A large bright orange pumpkin at the corner of the altar: this is the idea of Don Vitaliano Della Sala.
The priest from Irpinia, protagonist in the 1990s of a tough clash with the ecclesiastical hierarchy for his positions of support for the No Global movement, does not give up the "trick", a few hours before Halloween night, against his "colleagues" who in these same hours condemn the custom of dressing up children as witches and goblins, inviting them instead to wear the tunic of the saints.
In recent days there have been a series of appeals from the ecclesiastical world to boycott the 'pagan' Halloween, to rediscover the Christian meaning of the feast of All Saints: among others, a parish priest of Ercolano, Don Marco Ricci, has invited the children of the oratory to show up tomorrow dressed as a saint, preferably with the characteristic signs of the one whose name they bear.
Don Vitaliano, not new to countercurrent positions in the Catholic Church, instead legitimizes the celebration of witches and goblins. "It will be an element of decorum, instead of flowers I will put pumpkins on the occasion of the evening mass" explains the priest, parish priest of the Annunziata in Mercogliano and director of the local soup kitchen.
“The Crusade Against Halloween Is Stupid”
"The crusade against Halloween is a stupid one. It forgets - he adds - that the Church, with wisdom, starting from Christmas, has gradually absorbed the ancient pagan festivals and transformed them into Christian festivals. The Church that only knows how to condemn risks the isolation in which it already lives. We should instead be open and tolerant and, if anything, recover the wisdom of the Church of our fathers".
In many parishes, priests have promoted “Holyween” to oppose Halloween. Don Vitaliano flatly rejects his colleagues: “This way we return to the Middle Ages, but it is also a sign of the agony of those who cannot enter into harmony with those who in the meantime have stopped attending our churches”.
Article published on 31 October 2023 - 16:31
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