(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic nursery school in Italy has taken young children on a day trip to a mosque, where the children learned about Islam from an imam and bowed in worship of “Allah,” causing outrage online.
Photos posted to Facebook by Santa Maria delle Vittorie parish nursery school in Ponte della Priula, Italy, show children between the ages of three and six bowing down in a mosque with their heads touching the ground in the posture used by Muslims.
The Facebook post by the nursery reportedly states:
This morning we were welcomed by the Imam in the Susegana mosque… It was a truly emotional experience. We took off our shoes, the teachers put on a veil and we entered a large room where there was a huge red carpet on the floor with some white stripes where you stand to pray. The imam explained to us that the Muslim religion is based on five pillars and told us that they pray 5 times a day (we even tried).
Already on the occasion of the celebration for the end of Ramadan, Shevala, Bilal’s mother, read a book that explains to the children what Ramadan is and what is done during it. Heartfelt thanks to the Imam who opened the doors of the mosque to us and welcomed us with respect, friendship and enthusiasm.
The incident has received massive exposure after prominent Italians shared photos of the children bowing down at the mosque, lamenting the homage to Islam for cultural reasons. Many Europeans are alarmed at the growing migration of Muslims to their continent, fearing the violence and terror attacks they disproportionately commit, as well as potential cultural influence.
As Arshia Malik has noted, “Several high-profile attacks, such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the 2015 Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks in Paris, the 2016 Brussels bombings, and the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing have left a deep scar on the European psyche.”
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini decried the scene on social media as an example of the “silent Islamization of Italian schools.”
Alberto Villanova, leader of the Lega (“League”) political party in the Veneto Region, told the Italian outlet Libero, “I want to hope that the parents who gave their consent were not aware of what would happen.”
“We are all for peace in the world, but I would be really curious to know if the imam explained to the children the true unaware victims of this story, what happens in many Muslim countries where women are not even free to study,” Villanova continued.
“Is it in Islamic cultural centers that we should take lessons in civilization?” Villanova reflected, adding “we certainly won’t remain silent in the face of these episodes. Here we are talking about a real cultural submission.”
A number of people questioned online why the children at a Catholic school were not taken to pray at a Catholic church.
The school’s director, Stefania Bazzo, defended the trip to the mosque, according to The European Conservative. ““We wanted to show them the place where some of their Muslim classmates pray so that everyone feels at home,” Bazzo explained, stressing that almost a quarter of the school’s students are Muslim.
In fact, participation in the prayer of another religion is expressly prohibited for Catholics. The Councils of the Church have repeatedly made clear that Catholics cannot pray with heretics or schismatics, let alone those of other religious practices:
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- “One must neither pray nor sing psalms with heretics, and whoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the communion of the Church, whether clergy or layman: let him be excommunicated.” — Council of Carthage
- “No one shall pray in common with heretics and schismatics.” — Council of Laodicea
- If any ecclesiastic or layman shall go into the synagogue of the Jews or to the meeting-houses of the heretics to join in prayer with them, let them be deposed and deprived of communion. If any bishop or priest or deacon shall join in prayer with heretics, let him be suspended from communion. — II Council of Constantinople
Participation in Muslim prayer is made more serious by the fact that, contrary to the claim of Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, the Muslims do not worship the true God of Catholics. This is because Muslims reject the Trinity, which they consider to be an idolatrous idea.
Christ made clear that “whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me” (Luke 10:16) and “no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
