Italian Catholics Look to Matteo Salvini Over Pope Francis on Immigration

Many practicing Catholics prefer the immigration policies of Italian Minister Matteo Salvini to those of Pope Francis, according to a series of recent polls.

The German daily Die Welt reported last week that Matteo Salvini is becoming the secret leader of Catholics in Italy because of his firm line on migration, while fewer and fewer Catholics support Pope Francis’ call for greater openness to migrants.

Luca Comodo, the director of the Ipsos research institute, said recently that according to surveys “at this time, there is a clear distance between a significant part of Catholic opinion and the hierarchy of the Church.”

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