Italian priest Enrico d’Ambrosio attacked populist party supporters claiming that those who supported Matteo Salvini’s Lega party were “insignificant Christians” due to the anti-mass migration policies of the party.

Father d’Ambrosio attacked supporters of Interior Minister Salvini during a homily earlier this week saying, “Those who are not accepting and vote for that party that closes ports also on Christmas Eve are insignificant Christians,” Il Giornale reports.

The reference made by the priest likely refers to the recent attempt by migrant rescue NGO Open Arms to dock and unload around 300 or so migrants they had rescued off the coast of Libya. Interior Minister Salvini rejected their request to drop off the migrants in Italy forcing the vessel to head to Spain where they docked in Crinavis on Friday.

Oscar Camps, founder of the Spain-based NGO, lashed out at Salvini after the ship had docked saying, “Your descendants will be ashamed of your choices.”

Salvini replied to the NGO mocking an earlier “mission accomplished” statement saying, “As soon as they landed in Spain the NGO vessel #OpenArms, with 310 illegal immigrants on board, says Mission accomplished! #ClosedPorts”

Father d’Ambrosio was not the only member of the clergy to attack Salvini over his migrant policy in the last week. During a Christmas mass Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, the Archbishop of Florence did not name Salvini or Lega but attacked the anti-mass migration policies enacted by the Interior Minister along with “individualistic culture” which he also blamed for a lack of acceptance of migrants.

Since coming into office as Interior Minister earlier this year, Salvini has closed all Italian ports to migrant rescue NGOs which has led to many organisations, such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) halting their migrant rescue operations entirely.

Over the last year, Italy has also seen a rapid decline in new migrant arrivals under the populist government with figures showing new arrivals going down by 80 percent compared to the previous year.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com