“Parishes are the only thing still standing. We need a true Christian life. All this paves the way to Islam. In addition to this, they have children and we do not. We are in full decline.”

The archbishop added that the problem is not just Muslim immigration. The number of Eastern Europeans arriving over the past few years has also hit the quality of life for native Italians, he said.

“We help without delay those coming from outside and we forget many poor and old Italians who are eating from the trash,” the archbishop said. “We need policies that take care of Italians first: our young people and the unemployed.