Don Alessandro Ferrua, parish priest of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Imperia Oneglia, was attacked, insulted, and slapped by a worshipper he had reprimanded for being caught smoking in church.
It happened on Saturday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. The priest has filed a complaint.
“It’s an act that speaks for itself,” the priest said, “out of proportion to the reprimand.
“I don’t know if he was already upset about his own problems, but that’s not the way to react.”
The church was open, and Father Ferrua was about to leave to visit a sick person.
“When I saw him sitting on the pew with a lit cigarette, I simply told him to go outside and smoke,” explained Ferrua.
The attack was captured by an amateur videographer, who was recording the organist at the time, who practices in the church in the afternoon ahead of Sunday Mass.
The man, in his 50s, then came out and continued shouting.
“He mumbled something at me, but I didn’t quite understand,” the priest added.
“He was probably a foreigner. I know he was later stopped by a patrol because he continued to act out in the city.”
ANSA
