In Rome, at the funeral of an ultra-right politician, the coffin was wrapped in a Nazi flag (photo)

The incident took place during the funeral of 44-year-old Alessia Augello. The Vatican called the procession offensive and unacceptable for the church community in the country.

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In Rome, on January 10, near the Church of Santa Lucia, members of the ultra-right political party Forza Nuova (New Force) held a funeral procession for their 44-year-old colleague Alessia Augello, who had died the day before. How informs the Italian edition of Corriere della Sera, during the funeral service, the coffin of the deceased was wrapped in the banner of the Third Reich, and the mourners greeted the coffin with a fascist greeting.

The publication writes that the funeral was attended by about 20 people from the far-right Forza Nuova party, who wrapped Alessia Augello’s coffin in a flag with a swastika, and the procession participants used a Roman salute. In this regard, law enforcement officers are conducting an investigation to identify the organizers of this incident. It is assumed that the coffin was covered with a flag with Nazi symbols after the ceremony and the clergy of the church in which the funeral was held are not aware of what happened.

A relative of the deceased Stefania Vesika in social networks wrotethat relatives were not involved in this event, since neither the relatives, nor the priests who held the funeral knew what happened after the funeral.

“We would never have allowed or allowed what happened. We ask journalists and everyone else, given the severity of our loss, to respect our pain and the name of Alessia Aujello,” said relatives of the deceased.

In turn, representatives of the church after the publicity of the incident condemned the “offensive and unacceptable” funeral procession. How informs The Guardian, the Vatican official strongly condemned the scene in which the coffin was wrapped in a Nazi flag and mourners gave a fascist salute outside the church.

“This ideological and violent exploitation, especially after an act of worship near a sacred site, remains serious, offensive and unacceptable to the church community in Rome and all people of goodwill in our city,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The position of the Catholic Church is shared by the Jewish community of Rome, which expressed outrage that such events could still occur more than seven decades after the end of World War II and the fall of the fascist dictatorship in Italy.

“It is unacceptable for the swastika flag to be put on public display in our time, especially in a city that saw the deportation of its Jews by the Nazis and their fascist accomplices,” the community said in a statement.

Earlier it was reported that in the building of the US State Department next to the office of the special envoy to combat anti-Semitism found a scrawled swastika… After the discovery of the swastika, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned such manifestations of anti-Semitism, calling them a relic of the past.

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