Italian priest Michele Crociata, an expert scholar of Islam, has praised populist interior minister Matteo Salvini for protecting Italy’s borders and for being public about his Christian faith.
While many priests and bishops have come out against Salvini and his anti-mass migration policies, Monsignor Crociata stated that he is more interested in fighting Satan than Salvini in an interview with Roman Catholic website La Fede Quotidiana.
” I remain of the idea that the Church should not make politics in a party sense but remain out of contention. Today, on the contrary, it seems to be going in the opposite direction. The task of the Church is the salvation of souls and evangelisation,” Crociata said.
Some members of the clergy have slammed Salvini for displaying a rosary in public and talking about his Christian faith, but Monsignor Crociata stated: “Christian signs are beautiful both in private and in public. We have almost lost our Christian identity and if anyone remembers us, so be it.”
“Many are disturbed by the rosary in public, but I have not heard so many protests about the hammer and sickle donated and shown to the Pope by a head of state,” he added, referring to the time Bolivian president Evo Morales gifted the Pontiff with a hammer and sickle crucifix in 2015.
On Salvini’s anti-mass migration policies, Crociata was also supportive saying: “A sensible politician must guarantee the security of the nation and control of the situation,” he said, agreeing with those who say that the more migrants set sail for Europe, the more will run into trouble and drown — “the important thing is not to let them sail.”
Other priests have taken a radically different view of Salvini’s policies including Father Alex Zanotelli who referred to the League leader as the “antichrist” during a sermon last year at the Vatican.
Despite the protests from other members of the Church, Salvini’s anti-mass migration policies have radically reduced the number of incoming migrants by over 90 per cent and have also led to fewer drowning deaths in the Mediterranean.