Giving Up Christ For Lent: Italian Novus Ordo Parish Provides Worship Space for Muslims During Ramadan

So they can “adequately observe their communal prayer”…

Giving Up Christ For Lent: Italian Novus Ordo Parish Provides Worship Space for Muslims During Ramadan

Muslim worship in a ‘Catholic’ event center in Italy
(screenshot of video published by Telefriuli on Feb. 20, 2026)

Last October, a controversy erupted after it became known that the Vatican Apostolic Library in Vatican City was providing Muslim visitors with a room for private prayer upon request. We pointed out that this was but an instance of “Vatican II theology in action”, and so it was.

But now, a ‘Roman Catholic’ parish in northeastern Italy has taken this logic a step further and allowed Muslims from a nearby community to use one of its event venues for carrying out their Friday prayers during Ramadan. The ‘Red Barn’, as the building is called, is owned by the Archdiocese of Gorizia and is under the administration of Saints Peter and Paul Church (Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo) in Staranzano.

Various Italian-language publications have reported on this story and published photographs and video (such as Il Piccolo, Telefriuli, and Il Goriziano). Among them is the conservative Novus Ordo site La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana:

It all began in Monfalcone, where the sizable Islamic community requested a place of worship to celebrate Ramadan. In this town, home to the Fincantieri shipyard, the Muslim community lacks a place of worship because the municipality shut down their previous one due to irregularities.

As a result, the Muslims turned elsewhere, seeking help in the smaller neighboring town of Staranzano. Their request was not answered by the mayor but rather by the local parish, which offered a building called “the red barn” [le stalle rosse] for Friday prayers.

(Andrea Zambrano, “Ramadan in parrocchia? Non è carità. Ho detto no perché ipocrita”, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Mar. 12, 2026; translation by ChatGPT, with edits.)

So, who is in charge of the parish? Who is the pastor? The man’s name is ‘Monsignor’ Paolo Luigi Zuttion. Along with a priest from neighboring pastoral units, he released the following message, which was published on the archdiocesan web site on Feb. 17, 2026:

Friday Prayer for Muslim Faithful [sic]

In light of the right enshrined in our Constitution for everyone (citizens and foreigners alike) to freely practice and pray according to their own religious beliefs, and without entering into the political debates that currently characterize the state of relations in our territory, we, the parish priests of the Catholic communities in the city of Monfalcone, in agreement with the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese, feel it is our duty to respond to the request of the Muslim community. We wish to offer, as far as possible, the space and time necessary for them to adequately observe their communal prayer during the period of Ramadan.

Therefore, on Fridays, Muslim faithful will be welcomed for a few hours in our facility at the Red Barn in Staranzano.

During our time of Lent, which coincides with their holy month, may we all share the desire to nurture feelings of mutual respect and attentiveness toward one another, overcoming fears and mistrust between us.

We wish Christians and Muslims alike a meaningful and blessed time of prayer and spiritual growth.

Don Flavio Zanetti, Parish Priest of the Pastoral Unit of St. Ambrose, Blessed Virgin Marcelliana, St. Nicholas and Paul, and Most Holy Redeemer in Monfalcone

Mons. Paolo Luigi Zuttion, Parish Priest of the Pastoral Unit of St. Joseph in Monfalcone and Saints Peter and Paul in Staranzano

(“Venerdì di preghiera per i fedeli musulmani”, Arcidiocesi di Gorizia, Feb. 17, 2026; italics and bold print given. Translation by ChatGPT.)

With a specious appeal to the Italian constitution — a document that is completely irrelevant to the matter at hand — the two Novus Ordo presbyters announce to the public that the followers of Mohammed, who reject Our Lord Jesus Christ, will be allowed to use their facilities so they can “adequately observe their communal prayer during the period of Ramadan”.

What does the local ordinary say about that, the archbishop? It turns out that the diocese does not have one currently. It is sede vacante there even for Novus Ordos. However, the former ‘archbishop’, Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli, whom Leo XIV appointed to the Dicastery for the Clergy in January, is still acting as the apostolic administrator of the diocese for the time being — and of course he has “endorsed the initiative”, as La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana reports and as the priests’ note itself suggests (“in agreement with the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese”).

But it gets better worse. The same day, ‘Abp.’ Redaelli published a “Message to Muslim Brothers and Sisters” on the diocesan web site, which states:

On behalf of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Gorizia, I am pleased to extend to you my fraternal wishes for a month of Ramadan filled with blessings and spiritual growth. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving bring us closer to Almighty God, our Creator, and to all those with whom we live and work, helping us walk together on the path of fraternity.

This year, by a coincidence that seems like a blessing, the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims and the season of Lent for Christians begin on the same day. This shared beginning invites us even more to “walk together” as men and women of prayer.

We are called to share our spiritual growth, as Pope Leo XIV reminds us in his Lenten Message, by asking God for the gift of listening to His Word, embracing the conversion that comes through fasting, and sharing with those in need.

As Christians and Muslims, we strive to be peacemakers in the present life, witnesses, and builders of fraternity, especially in this historical moment marked by wars and discord.

As a sign of spiritual closeness, we extend to you our heartfelt wishes for a peaceful month of Ramadan. May you enjoy the abundant blessings of the Almighty.

(Most Rev. Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelii, “Il messaggio per i fratelli musulmani ad inizio del Ramadan”, Arcidiocesi di Gorizia, Feb. 17, 2026; translation by ChatGPT.)

This is what six decades of Vatican II theology have done. There is no shred of Catholicism left in these people. It is abundantly clear that these ‘Catholic authorities’ believe that Islam is a religion in which one can please God, worship Him, hear His Word, receive spiritual fruit, obtain blessings, and gain access to salvation.

If we consider that in 1864 Pope Pius IX condemned the error that “Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church” (Syllabus of Errors, n. 18), can we imagine what he would have said about those who try to make Islam into a religion “in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church”?!

The ‘Red Barn’ (stalle rosse) in Staranzano
(source: Facebook/Comune di Staranzano)

Not everyone affiliated with Saints Peter and Paul Church is enthusiastic about the decision to let Muslims pray in a Catholic social hall, however. The former pastor of the parish, for example, the Rev. Francesco Fragiacomo, squarely opposes it. But of course he no longer has any say in the matter.

As for the church’s parishioners, “They are divided”, reports Il Piccolo.

Meanwhile, the Novus Ordo newspaper Avvenire has published a letter from the Rev. Matteo Marega, a presbyter of the archdiocese, defending the decision:

Hosting those in need of a space to pray, therefore, is not an act of naïve goodwill or a concession to relativism that equates all religions. It is a concrete act of witnessing the charity of Christ, which compels us to recognize in others a brother or sister, a human being searching for God and loved by Him.

(Matteo Marega, “Perché noi sacerdoti ospitiamo la preghiera islamica: è un gesto che ci ricorda chi siamo”, Avvenire, Mar. 10, 2026; translation by ChatGPT.)

While such an act may not equate Islam with Catholicism, in the sense of making both religions equal, it certainly does testify that whatever shortcomings the Muslim religion may have, it’s still good enough to be offered a prayer space.

Ah, but is this not charity? Is this not what Christ would do?

No, it is not. Our Blessed Lord very much emphasized the importance of truth in worship: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23-24).

We must remember that, regardless of the personal dispositions of individual Muslims, Islamic worship rejects the Most Holy Trinity and is therefore antichrist: “Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father, and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also” (1 Jn 2:22-23); “And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world” (1 Jn 4:3).

Muslim worship is therefore clearly false worship, even if each individual Mohammedan intends to worship the true God:

God may be wrongly worshipped either by false worship or by superfluous worship being paid him. Worship of God is false when its meaning is not in accordance with fact, or when the falsehood is in the person who performs the act of worship, as when a layman performs the duties of a priest, or when someone tries to gain credence for false miracles or false relics. The ceremonies and practices of the Jewish religion signified that the Messiah was to come, and so now, after the coming of our Lord, they could not be employed without superstition. Inasmuch as falsehood in religion is a grave injury to God, this species of superstition is mortally sinful.

(Fr. Thomas Slater, S.J., A Manual of Moral Theology, vol. 1, 5th ed. [London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1925], p. 140; underlining added.)

Therefore, the ‘charity’ involved in giving the followers of Islam a prayer space is actually a false charity.

As Pope St. Pius X explained in his Apostolic Letter condemning the French social movement Le Sillon in 1910:

…Catholic doctrine tells us that the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas, however sincere they may be, nor in the theoretical or practical indifference towards the errors and vices in which we see our brethren plunged, but in the zeal for their intellectual and moral improvement as well as for their material well-being. Catholic doctrine further tells us that love for our neighbor flows from our love for God, Who is Father to all, and goal of the whole human family; and in Jesus Christ whose members we are, to the point that in doing good to others we are doing good to Jesus Christ Himself. Any other kind of love is sheer illusion, sterile and fleeting.

Indeed, we have the human experience of pagan and secular societies of ages past to show that concern for common interests or affinities of nature weigh very little against the passions and wild desires of the heart. No, Venerable Brethren, there is no genuine fraternity outside Christian charity. Through the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ Our Saviour, Christian charity embraces all men, comforts all, and leads all to the same faith and same heavenly happiness.

…

As soon as the social question is being approached, it is the fashion in some quarters to first put aside the divinity of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency, His compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations to the love of our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. True, Jesus has loved us with an immense, infinite love, and He came on earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice and love, motivated by the same sentiments of mutual charity, all men might live in peace and happiness. But for the realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock, that we must accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue, and that we must accept the teaching and guidance of Peter and his successors. Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them.

(Pope Pius X, Apostolic Letter Notre Charge Apostolique; underlining added.)

Because our love of neighbor must flow from the love of God, to which it is necessarily subordinate (see Mk 12:29-31), we are not truly loving our neighbor if we provide him with a space for carrying out false worship, which God detests. In short, we cannot serve our neighbor by offending God.

A San Damiano Cross hangs in the Red Barn. When the infidel worshippers touch their heads to the ground, their backsides face the Crucifix.
(annotated screenshot of video published by Telefriuli on Feb. 20, 2026)

The following related articles may also be of interest to readers who have not seen them yet:

• Francis denounces Burning of the Muslim Koran in Sweden
• Celebrate Ramadan-at-Home with ‘Cardinal’ Vincent Nichols!
• Vatican II in Action: Nigerian Diocese builds Mosque for Muslim Refugees
• Did Muslims Pray for ‘Victory over the Infidels’ at the Vatican?

Let’s not forget that by letting the adherents of Islam use their facilities, the Novus Ordo authorities in the Gorizia diocese are merely extending a principle which Vatican II established (and ‘Saint-Pope’ John Paul II applied) for heretics and schismatics, to another monotheistic religion. Let’s not forget what the 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, duly promulgated by John Paul II, says concerning religious hospitality:

Catholic churches are consecrated or blessed buildings which have an important theological and liturgical significance for the Catholic community. They are therefore generally reserved for Catholic worship. However, if priests, ministers or communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church do not have a place or the liturgical objects necessary for celebrating worthily their religious ceremonies, the diocesan Bishop may allow them the use of a church or a Catholic building and also lend them what may be necessary for their services. Under similar circumstances, permission may be given to them for interment or for the celebration of services at Catholic cemeteries.

(Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, n. 137; underlining added.)

Again, this only refers to other ‘Christians’ — i.e., Orthodox and Protestants — but it is easy to see how the logic behind it can without much effort be extended also to Muslims, who, according to Vatican II, “along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, n. 16).

Theology has consequences; and here we see once more the rotten fruit of the fake Second Vatican Council.