Bologna is a city that is famous for its food. It is known Bologna la Grassa – Bologna the Well-Nourished – and is especially known for its pork-based foods: salumi include all cured meats, including salami, prosciutto cotto (baked or boiled ham), prosciutto crudo, salsicce (sausages) of all kinds.
The Feast of San Petronio, the patron saint of the city, is a very important occasion. And it has always been celebrated with pork-filled tortellini, the signature dish of Bologna. But not this year. This year the diocese of Bologna, headed by Archbishop (now Cardinal) Matteo Zuppi, ordered that pork-filled tortellinis would needlessly offend Muslim “guests” and were not to be served. Instead, there would be chicken-filled tortellini. There was popular outrage at this, but Archbishop Zuppi did not back down. He called the protests “unacceptable.”
The tale of the tortellini is here:
The diocese of Bologna, which has ordered Muslim-friendly pork-free tortellini for Friday’s feast of patron saint Petronius, on Tuesday said the row over the case was “unacceptable”.
The diocese has replaced pork, which Muslims do not eat for religious reasons, with chicken in the famed Bolognese speciality.
The curia said “fake news” had been generated on the case and “a normal rule of welcome and respect towards guests has been interpreted as an offence against tradition.
Nationalist leaders including League chief Matteo Salvini have slammed the move saying Italy is forgetting its history and identity….
“I’m reading that there are those who are asking for tortellini without meat. It’s like proposing wine without grapes,” he said.
“Oriana Fallaci was right. The problem is some Italians forgetting their roots, denying our history, from tortellini to the crucifix.” “Should I be the one defending faith and values? I’m a sinner…”, Salvini said on Facebook.
Where did this idea to order “Muslim-friendly pork-free tortellini” come from? One suspects that Muslim clerics in Bologna, who at interfaith gatherings had sized up Archbishop Matteo Zuppi as someone they could manipulate, expressed their hope to him, as ingratiatingly as they could, that pork-filled products would not be on offer at the Feast, for it would disturb Muslims even to have such products on view. And it also possible that Pope Francis himself, ever alert to occasions on which the Church could show its respect for Islam, suggested to Zuppi that this year at the Feast of San Petronio the pork-filled tortellini be jettisoned in favor of other, non-pork products, such as chicken or cheese-filled tortellini.
But why did they have to be banned outright? On airplanes, at weddings, in school cantines, it has long been the practice to offer alternative meals: fish or chicken, chicken or beef, beef or vegan, pork and non-pork, and so on. Why could not the pork-filled tortellini continue to be served, and another dish, without pork, be available for Muslims? Would that be so difficult to achieve?
And if pork-filled tortellini are banned to avoid offending Muslim sensibilities, shouldn’t it then follow that wine – alcohol being forbidden in Islam – should also be banned? Would the diocese agree to that? One suspects that eventually, under now-Cardinal Zuppi, it would.
How will Muslims react to the banning of pork-filled tortellini? The diocese may think that they will have been impressed by this effort at interfaith outreach. Outwardly, Muslims will express their gratitude to Zuppi, but inwardly, they will interpret this ban, triumphantly, as a sign of surrender by the Infidels – one more step in getting them to change their ways to accommodate Muslim desires. Perhaps, after managing as a next step to getting alcohol – wine – banned from public Catholic feasts and celebrations, they will widen their demands, pointing out that Muslims in Italy should not have to endure any processions in public that celebrate San Petronio or, indeed, any other Christian saints. A ludicrous demand, you say? You claim there is no chance the Church would ever agree to this. Don’t be so sure. Given Pope Francis’s insensate desire not to offend Muslims, nothing can any longer be taken for granted.
Look at all the Christmas celebrations in Europe that have been renamed as non-denominational “Winterfests.” Nor is this eagerness to please, or to appease, Muslims, to be found only in Europe. A middle school in Virginia has banned songs mentioning “Jesus” from its annual Christmas concert, as part of an effort to be “more sensitive” toward the increasingly “diverse population” of its student body. That “diverse population” means Muslims. Every such change is seen by Muslims not as an occasion for gratitude, but instead for a relentless triumphalism that will always demand more of the hapless Infidels.
Before this latest surrender by the Church over food, Muslims in Bologna already had marked one great victory over the civilization of the Kuffar. Some may remember that in Bologna’s Basilica di San Petronio, in one of its side chapels, there is a famous fresco by Giovanni da Modena that shows scenes from Dante’s Inferno. One of the details is the figure of “Mahomet” – that is, Muhammad — who is being tormented by devils in the 8th Circle of Hell, as described by Dante. Naturally this depiction enrages Muslims. In 2002, five Muslims linked to Al Qaeda were preparing to blow up the fresco, and the Basilica itself, but were caught just in time. Another group of Muslims with similar plans was also caught in 2006, and their plot also foiled. But the Church then decided to install a grate in front of that chapel, making it impossible to any longer get close to the fresco. Now visitors must strain to view, from that distance deliberately imposed, Giovanni da Modena’s fresco in the ill-lit chapel; the figure of “Mahomet” can no longer be seen. In the end, the Muslims in Italy did not need to blow up the Basilica or the fresco to obtain their aims; the Church created the conditions that render the fresco scarcely visible. Part of the West’s artistic heritage is now off limits because of Muslim threats to destroy it; the Muslims have effectively won.
And what of Archbishop Matteo Zuppi himself, who ordered the ban on pork-filled tortellini? He has been rewarded by Pope Francis, and just a few days after the pork ban was announced, he was elevated to become a Cardinal. Now that Matteo Zuppi has been recognized by the Pope for his Services to Islam, and made a Cardinal, he has uttered his first public remarks in his new position. Those remarks were not about Catholics at all; Cardinal Zuppi’s only concern was for Muslims, their need for a mosque in Bologna, and the further need, as he sees it, to “welcome” the observance of Islamic celebrations in the schools:
“I really think it’s time for a mosque in Bologna. Some people think otherwise but they are wrong,” Zuppi said.
“I also wish Islamic celebrations to be welcomed in schools,” he added, “as already requested by archbishop of Milan Angelo Scola.”
Well done, thou good and faithful servant of Pope Francis. Arise, Cardinal Zuppi. You and he will no doubt find many occasions to defend and promote the faith. “Which faith?” some may still ask. Who knows the answer to that? Oh, you know the answer to that.