The interior of the small church of Ca ‘de Caroli in Scandiano, 170 kilometres southeast of Milan, is in shambles after vandals raided it, writes local newspaper Gazzetta di Reggio. Thugs beheaded a statue of Madonna, destroyed furniture and scattered sacred vessels and hosts on the church floor. Only the crucifix remained in its place, behind the altar.

At the house where the parish priest Don Rino Bertoldi lives, fifty metres from the church, two hens were found dead. It is, however, not clear whether their death is related to the acts of vandalism in the church. The case is reported by Gazzetta di Reggio.

While the community wonders what happened, police officers investigate the scene. It appears that the perpetrators not only destroyed things. They also spent time drinking wine in the catechism rooms from bottles they found.

The break-in was discovered on Thursday September 2th, when some parishioners entered the church. Locals currently presume that the vandalism took place between Sunday 29th and Monday 30th of August. The church is not regularly used during the summer; most of the community’s parish activities are moved to the small church of Ventoso, on the hills. Besides, the church of Ca ‘de Caroli is located in a somewhat isolated area, writes Gazzetta di Reggio. The first houses are several tens of meters away, and the traffic is reduced at night. Nobody remembers hearing or seeing anything strange.

Bishop Camisasca, informed of the incident, expressed deep regret and invited priests and faithful to ideally gather around the community and its parish priest, Don Rino Bertoldi, raising prayers for the repairment and for repentance of the authors. This writes Italian newspaper Avvenire.

Excommunication

“The desecration, from the canonical point of view, automatically entails the excommunication of those who have performed such acts”, reads a statement from the Diocese.

According to local newspaper Reggio Sera, the bishop plans to go to the church in the coming weeks to preside over a mass as a sign of closeness to the local community.

The civil community of Scandiano, a town with around 26,000 inhabitants, showed solidarity with the parishioners and condemned the actions of the vandals. The centre-left political party, which holds a majority in the city council, condemns the violence: “Desecrating a place of worship is a very serious and cowardly act, which offends and affects the entire community. This goes against the founding principles of any democracy. Offending the religious sentiment of so many believers, damaging and destroying what is a common good, denotes ignorance and stupidity”, writes Gazzetta di Reggio.

Mayor Nasciuti of the centre-left party proposes organising lunches or dinners in the churchyard to raise funds for rebuilding the place of worship. That proposal is currently being studied.