Outrage in Italy as Muslims Cover Statue of Jesus During Prayers, An. Act of “Desecration and Unacceptable Contempt”

Why the church allowed Muslims to pray in their church in the first place is beyond me. But it speaks to the West’s approach to Islamic supremacism.

“This article is quite correct that Muslims would never afford Christians in Riyadh the same courtesy. And it is correct that this is an ostentatious gesture of supremacism, and a hint of the intent to conquer. But it is quite incorrect that these Muslims want to take “revenge” on the West. This isn’t some expression of anger at colonialism, which is actually only expressed in order to intimidate gullible leftists. The supremacist impulse is baked into Islam. The Ottomans weren’t taking “revenge: on the Roman Christians they had conquered when they covered, in a manner similar to how these Muslims in Italy acted now, the icons of Hagia Sophia with giant Islamic medallions. The idea is always to express “Allahu akbar,” that is, that Allah is greater than other gods. (Robert Spencer)

“This is an act of desecration and unacceptable contempt,” Cisint told Il Tempo. “Italy is in a constant state of retreat, and that is a serious mistake. We must work to bring people back to churches instead of yielding such important spaces to Islam.”

Outrage in Italy as Muslims cover statue of Jesus during prayers

Muslim community members in the city of Monfalcone were permitted to hold their holiday prayers in a church, but the worshippers chose to cover one of the statues at the prayer site with a cloth.

By: ILH Staff, June 10, 2025:

The statue that was covered during the Muslim prayer | Photo: Social media

A religious uproar erupted in Italy after a statue of Jesus was covered with a cloth during Eid al-Adha prayers held by local Muslims in a church in Monfalcone. Approximately 4,000 worshippers gathered for the prayer service at the Church of Marcelliana, which had been offered to the Muslim community for the holiday. The act of covering the statue sparked harsh criticism from former Monfalcone mayor and current European Parliament member for the right-wing League party, Anna Maria Cisint.

“This is an act of desecration and unacceptable contempt,” Cisint told Il Tempo. “Italy is in a constant state of retreat, and that is a serious mistake. We must work to bring people back to churches instead of yielding such important spaces to Islam.”

Don Flavio, the priest in charge of the church, said he would review the image documenting the event, but noted, as quoted in Il Giornale, “Clearly, no one should have done something like that.”

Cisint emphasized, “No Islamic edict requires the symbols of other religions to be concealed in order to pray.” She described the act of covering the statue as “ostentatious, brutal and provocative,” adding that it amounted to a “deep insult to devout Christians.”

“The West, meanwhile, extends a hand to its executioner in a gesture of peace that is, first of all, useless and, second, ridiculous – or rather, tragic,” she continued, as cited in Il Tempo. She warned that “relations between peoples and religions must be managed with extreme caution, without granting concessions.”

“Respect means knowing where you are, whose house you are in, and what the rules of the game are,” Cisint concluded.