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Italy Tag

In an interview with The Telegraph, an Italian infectious disease doctor said he believes the coronavirus could die out on its own without a vaccine:
Prof Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at the Policlinico San Martino hospital in Italy, told The Telegraph that Covid-19 has been losing its virulence in the last month and patients who would have previously died are now recovering.

Last week, we reported that faithful Catholics threw primitive figurines in the Tiber that were used in a Vatican garden ceremony and placed by an altar in Rome’s Church of Santa Maria in Transpontina. The Catholic men were offended that the "Pachamama" statues were more akin to fertility goddesses than sacred Catholic images. In an apologetic statement, Pope Frances indicated that the statues have now been dredged up and may be displayed again.

I recently reported that at the Amazon synod, Pope Francis created a stir by pondering the possibility of married priests. But that wasn't the only significant controversy associated with the event.  A video going around shows a man throwing statues in the Tiber used in a Vatican garden ceremony and placed by an altar in Rome's Church of Santa Maria in Transpontina.

French President Emmanuel Macron has reached a deal with the newly-formed Italian government, agreeing to resettle migrants that enter Italy by boat. Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte "have agreed on a new system to distribute migrants across the European Union," German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle disclosed.

Italy's government has collapsed as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned after Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini tabled a no-confidence vote. Conte unloaded on Salvini in a speech to the Senate, accusing him of putting his individual wants ahead of the country. Salvini has demanded snap elections since opinion polls have shown that his Northern League as the most popular party in Italy.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini hit back at Richard Gere for criticizing the country's immigration policy. He told the U.S. celebrity to take illegal migrants with him to Hollywood. "Given this generous millionaire is voicing concern for the fate of the Open Arms migrants, we thank him," the Italian politician responded sarcastically. "He can take all the people aboard back to Hollywood, on his private plane, and support them in his villas. Thank you, Richard!"

Europe's open-doors immigration policy will lead to a European "Islamic caliphate," Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has warned voters ahead of the upcoming European Union election. "For our children, to leave behind an Islamic caliphate with sharia law in our cities is not something I want to do and I’m going to do everything in my power to avert this sad ending for Europe," he said during a visit to Hungary this week.

France's nationalist politician Marine Le Pen and Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini have announced plans to create a "Freedom Front" electoral coalition ahead of next year's European parliamentary vote. Speaking with Le Pen at a press conference on Monday, Salvini called for a "common sense revolution" to defeat EU's political elite in the May 2019 elections. "Europe's enemies are those cut off in the bunker of Brussels," Italy's League party leader Salvini told reporters. "The Junckers, the Moscovicis, who brought insecurity and fear to Europe and refuse to leave their armchairs."

Italy’s new government has declared victory in a standoff over a German-owned rescue boat that brought hundreds of migrants to its shores. Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini refused MS Aquarius, which carried 629 migrants on board, to dock over the weekend. Spain’s newly elected Socialist government accepted the boat, which ended the impasse. "Saving lives at sea is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp is not," Minister Salvini wrote on Facebook. "Italy is done bowing its head and obeying. This time there's someone saying no."

Anti-European Union parties made a huge leap in Italy's general election, but no party has (so far) come away with a majority. This means Italy faces a hung Parliament and can take a long time to form a government. The situation mirrors the UK when Prime Minister Theresa May held snap elections last year and no party came out with a majority.

Italy has been struggling to deal with a flood of migrants from Libya and has received little to no help from the EU. This has led to strife, as we pointed out in earlier posts.

Italy is being overwhelmed by migrants from northern Africa due to its geographic location. As we previously reported, the situation has become so bad that Italy has threatened to close its ports. In order to get the rest of the EU to help, Italy is now threatening to just give these migrants, mostly from Libya, visas which would allow them to live anywhere in Europe. This is threat to flood the rest of Europe with hundreds of thousands of Libyan migrants is being termed the "nuclear option."