Italian Nativity with dinghy instead of manger sparks fury

Mayor of Castenaso near Bologna was trying to promote tolerance of migrants
Bishop was outraged, saying Virgin Mary and baby Jesus shouldn’t be in a boat
Over 3,000 migrants are believed to have died in the Mediterranean this year

By Lara Keay For Mailonline

Published: 19:05 GMT, 5 December 2017 | Updated: 01:53 GMT, 6 December 2017

A Nativity scene in the middle of an Italian piazza has caused outrage after replacing Jesus’s manger with a rubber dinghy to symbolise the migrant crisis.

The Mayor of Castenaso Stefano Sermenghi made the controversial move to promote tolerance of the thousands of migrants who cross the Mediterranean to flee war and devastation in their own countries.

But the installation in the Piazza Zapelloni near Bologna has not been to everyone’s taste – particularly not the local Bishop’s.

Monsignor Ernesto Vecchi was furious, saying he had no problem with the boat being part of the scene, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.

The Nativity scene in the Piazza Zapelloni, Castenaso near Bologna (pictured) has replaced Jesus’s manger with a rubber dinghy

The Mayor of Castenaso Stefano Sermenghi made the controversial move to promote tolerance of the thousands of migrants who cross the Mediterranean to flee war and devastation

He told local newspaper Il Resto Di Carlino: ‘The central nucleus of a nativity scene calls for a child in swaddling clothes to be placed in a manger, and this must be respected.

‘The most important part of the crib cannot be represented by a boat.’

Passers-by were not best pleased with the installation either, with some posting pictures of it on social media blasting the left-wing Mayor for ‘killing tradition’.

But the installation in the Piazza Zapelloni near Bologna has not been to everyone’s taste – particularly not the local Bishop’s, who slammed the idea

Over 3,000 asylum seekers are believed to have died in Mediterranean waters trying to reach Europe so far this year.

But when reminded of Pope Francis’s plea for acceptance and solidarity with the migrant community, the bishop said the boat’s position implied Jesus is the saviour of ‘just one problem’.

Mayor Sermenghi did not appear fazed by his critics, saying defiantly: ‘Many people in Italy open their mouths, but then nobody does anything to provide a positive welcome to those who arrive.’

Passers-by were not best pleased with the installation either, with some posting pictures of it on social media blasting the left-wing Mayor for ‘killing tradition’