The Certosa di Trisulti monastery in Collepardo | Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images Cardinal objects to Steve Bannon’s far-right academy plan Cardinal Renato Maria Martino demands that Catholic doctrine be ‘respected’ at the former Carthusian monastery.

ROME — A top Catholic Cardinal objected to Steve Bannon’s plans to create a training school for nationalists in a former Carthusian monastery.

The former Breitbart executive and chief strategist to Donald Trump wants to set up the alt-right academy at Trisulti Charterhouse in Collepardo, around 70 kilometers southeast of Rome.

But according to a letter obtained by POLITICO, Cardinal Renato Maria Martino raised objections to using the monastery for political purposes. He wrote to Benjamin Harnwell, Bannon's close associate in Italy who is spearheading the project, on January 29, 2019 demanding that there be no "distortions or modifications" to the original plan. The original idea was to create an apolitical Catholic study and training center.

Cardinal Martino said he would resign as the honorary president of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI), the association overseeing the plans if they go ahead in their current form. The DHI is considered the “cultural arm” of Bannon’s populist push in Italy and in Europe.

"I recommend you to make sure the abbey is really turned into a place for worship and meeting open to everybody," Martino wrote.

"I really hope you and DHI succeed in carrying out the project without any distortions or modifications, including in its implementation phase, that will degenerate the purposes you have worked for so hard," he continued.

Locals in Collepardo, the closest town to the Trisulti abbey, marched in protest at Harnwell's and Bannon's plans in March. The scheme was also challenged last month by Italy's Democratic Party leader, Nicola Zingaretti, who is also the governor of the Lazio region, where the monastery is located.

The cardinal wrote that Catholics must always follow the pope's guidance and teachings. "I therefore ask you, even in the future, to make sure the abbey is a place where the Church's doctrine is respected," he wrote.

In the meantime, the Italian culture ministry has mandated lawyers to check whether there are grounds to revoke the authorizations granted to DHI after media reports alleged there were irregularities in granting the go-ahead for the project.