A church nativity scene in Italy that features two mothers of the baby Jesus instead of Mary and Joseph figurines has been blasted as “dangerous” and “blasphemous” by conservatives — who are calling for it to be taken down.
Father Vitaliano Della Sala defended the depiction of the birth of Jesus on display at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, in Capocastello di Mercogliano outside Naples.
“I wanted to show with this scene that families are no longer just the traditional ones,” Della Sala told Reuters.
“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, gay couples, single people, young mothers.”
But an online petition by Pro-Vita & Famiglia, a pro-life group, called on the bishop in the province of Avellino to intervene because it argued that the scene legitimized same-sex parenting and surrogacy,
The group called it “dangerous, as well as shameful and blasphemous.”
The petition has raised more than 21,000 signatures in the largely Catholic country, where nativity scenes have become increasingly mired in culture wars as the society has grown more secular.
The firestorm surrounding the nativity scene comes as a senator from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party has proposed another bill that would prevent school officials from banning Catholic-themed activities such as Christmas plays or the making of nativity scenes.
