DA dispute that has raged for weeks over the display of allegedly blasphemous images at a church in Carpi, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, turned bloody during Holy Week. Andrea Saltini, a 49-year-old artist from Carpi, was attacked by a masked person with a knife and injured his neck on Maundy Thursday. According to Carp Hospital, the artist was not seriously injured in the attack and was released after a short treatment.

The person, who according to the media was a man, had previously damaged one of the paintings displayed in the church with a knife. According to the information, the attacker was wearing a surgical breathing mask and a wig and was able to escape initially unnoticed after the attack. The attack on Saltin took place when the artist tried to stop the man.

The “Gratia Plena” exhibition, which opened on March 2 in the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Carpi, features twenty works by the artist. The painting “INRI – San Longino”, which depicts the body of Jesus after the descent from the Cross and the Roman Longinus, caused special offense right from the beginning. According to tradition, the general Longinus pierced the crucified Christ with a needle in the heart to testify to the death of the crucified man. Later, he converted, confirmed the divine sonship of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus became one of the first saints of Christianity.

Campaign and protests against the exhibition

In his painting, Saltini depicts St. Longinus bending over the lifeless body or stomach of Christ, thrusting his hand into the wound below Christ's heart. The image caused offense among conservative Catholics because it was said to give the impression of oral sex. Immediately after the opening, the ultra-conservative Catholic newspaper “Nuova Bussola Quotidiana” condemned what they considered a blasphemous depiction and launched a campaign against the exhibition. On Good Friday, the newspaper's editorial board condemned the knife attack “firmly and unconditionally” under the headline “Blasphemy show creates monsters: attack on artist in Carpi”.

In recent weeks, there have been repeated demonstrations and “vigilance” in front of the church. The anti-abortion Catholic NGO Pro Vita e Famiglia (For Life and Family) said it had collected 30,000 signatures for the exhibition. After a brief investigation, Carp's prosecutor's office dismissed the blasphemy complaint, arguing that the artist's images were covered by freedom of expression, even if his works were displayed in a sacred building.

The Diocese of Carpi rejected the charge that Saltini's paintings were blasphemous and called for an impartial view of them as an expression of the Christian tradition and contemporary reflections on the artist's spiritual quest. The Diocese announced an explanatory addition to the exhibition catalogue.