Former deputy mayor of Milan and regional security assessor Riccardo De Corato tied the vandalism to an incident in San Benedetto Po, Mantova, where four 16-year-old Muslims of Moroccan origin, born in Italy, were arrested after destroying a crib. On New Year’s Eve, thugs stoned a manger in San Bernardo park erected by the La Braila association in Lodi, Lombardy. According to police, the image of the Infant Jesus was then removed, beheaded and thrown away in a nearby field. On the evening of Dec. 29, the boys entered the abbey of Polirone and threw the figure of the Infant Jesus against the roof of the church. Later, they returned and ripped it to pieces and hung the heads and torsos of the Holy Family on an iron pole in the town square. ‘It is not difficult to imagine from which worldview such hostility towards a Christian symbol can come,’ De Corato commented….While a number of acts were simply wanton and committed by local youth, sources said that other incidents could be traced to ‘people deeply different in feeling, values, faith and roots,’ and ‘foreigners’ who, although born in Italy, were from Islamic countries and ‘insensitive’ or even hostile ‘to the sense of Christmas.'”

Celebrate diversity!

“Epidemic of ‘Nightmarish’ Crib Vandalism Hits Italy,” by Jules Gomes, Church Militant, January 11, 2020 (thanks to Christopher):

ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – Hundreds of Christmas cribs have been smashed, burned and vandalized across Italy in a binge of violence unparalleled in recent memory. Statues of the Baby Jesus and the Holy Family have been beheaded, stolen or hanged — in one shocking incident even impale In the town of Ivrea, near Turin, firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze in the church of San Maurizio on Jan. 4 after a 46-year-old woman with a history of arson set fire to a crib near the altar. The fire destroyed valuable paintings and frescoes, as well as two antique painted tables and the covering of the baptismal font. The perpetrator confessed to the crime, even though she said she was unable to explain why she did it. Meanwhile, on the same day and in the same town, another arsonist set fire to a crib in the church of San Salvatore, destroying the altar linen. The two churches are near one other, close to the historic city center. Edoardo Cerrato, bishop of Ivrea, called for acts of reparation and an investigation, noting that “we have seen beheaded figurines of the Child of Bethlehem and His Most Holy Mother” in other parts of Italy. “The investigation will perhaps identify the perpetrators and understand the motive behind what, for now, can be seen as desecration of sacred images and churches,” he said…. In the town of Mogliano Venetto, vandals hanged a figurine of the Baby Jesus using an electric cable to encircle his neck while keeping it raised off the ground. A mother who witnessed the “nightmarish” and “macabre” destruction said the vandals had also scattered several plastic cups among the straw, using the nativity scene as a garbage can….