ROME (AP) – The Catholic Church in Rome on Tuesday strongly condemned as “offensive and unacceptable” a funeral procession in front of a local church in which the coffin was draped in a Nazi flag and mourners gave the fascist salute.
Photos and video of the scene outside Saint Lucia Church after Monday’s funeral were posted by the Italian online news portal Open. They showed about two dozen people gathered outside the church as the swastika-draped coffin emerged, shouting “Present! With their right arm extended in the fascist salute.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Vicariate of Rome strongly condemned the scene and stressed that neither the parish priest, nor the priest who performed the funeral, knew what was going to happen outside after the end of the funeral mass.
He called the Nazi flag adorned with a swastika “a horrible and irreconcilable symbol with Christianity”.
“This ideological and violent exploitation, in particular following an act of worship near a sacred place, remains serious, offensive and unacceptable for the ecclesial community of Rome and for all people of good will in our city”, did he declare.
The statement quotes the parish priest, Reverend Alessandro Zenobbi, distancing himself and the church from “every word, gesture and symbol used outside the church, which is attributed to extremist ideologies far from the message of the Gospel of Christ ”.
Italian press reports identified the deceased as a 44-year-old former activist of the far-right group Forza Nuova, who died of a blood clot over the weekend.
Pope Francis is technically the Bishop of Rome, but he delegates the day-to-day management of the diocese to his vicar, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis.
