An hour from Naples, in the kindergarten of his church, the priest Della Sala decided to attribute two mothers to Jesus to reflect developments in society. Enough to provoke the outrage of the right and Catholics.
One evolution and the reactors attack. In the hamlet of Capocastello di Mercogliano, an hour from Naples, the Italian priest of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Vitaliano Della Sala, decided to break with the age-old tradition of nativity scenes and replace the two usual figures of Mary and Joseph by two women. Enough to cause a major scandal in a country that is deeply religious but where culture wars are increasing as society becomes more secular and multicultural.
The controversy was initiated by a senator from the late Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, which is in power alongside the far right. According to Maurizio Gasparri, this LGBT crèche offends “all those who have always shown respect and devotion to the Holy Family”. The group Pro-Vita & Famiglia (“Pro-Life and Family”) denounced something “dangerous, shameful and blasphemous.” The association launched an online petition calling on the Bishop of Avellino to intervene, saying the daycare “contradicts the Church's teachings on the family and legitimizes homosexual parenthood and surrogacy.” The latter had reached more than 21,000 signatures on Saturday.
Pointed to this, priest Vitaliano Della Sala explained his approach: “I wanted to show with this scene that families are no longer just traditional families,” he told Portal. “In our parishes we see more and more children from the new types of families that exist and are part of our society, children of separated and divorced people, homosexual couples, single people, young mothers,” he said. -he continued. The man of the church, known in Italy for being sympathetic to LGBT and left-wing causes, reiterates that his stance is in line with that of Pope Francis, who this week, in a historic decision against the episcopate, authorized priests to bless same-sex couples .