“Donate”. Don Biancalani beats cash for migrants' bills

Local news 6 March 2023 – 13:51 Don Massimo Biancalani, the “pastor of migrants”, has published on social networks the amount of the electricity and gas bills relating to the reception centers of Vicofaro and Ramini (Pistoia), asking users for a donation . “We are in difficulty, alone and abandoned by the institutions” A close-up of Don Massimo Biancalani, parish priest of Vicofaro He published a photo on his Facebook page showing the amount to be paid, as regards the utilities of the centers of welcome by Ramini and Vicofaro. A total of 25 thousand euros between electricity and gas, which induced the “pastor of migrants” to solicit donations through social networks and not to spare a “jab” to the Municipality of Pistoia, the Tuscany Region and the State, guilty in his eyes of not enough to support the hospitality project that he himself set up a few years ago. This is the latest initiative by Don Massimo Biancalani, who in the past few hours has shared on social networks the amount of bills to be paid for utilities in the centers of Vicofaro and Ramini. Structures that would currently host over a hundred migrants, and which, according to what the parish priest of Vicofaro has already pointed out, risk being brought to their knees by the high energy price. For this reason, Don Biancalani has launched a fundraiser, providing the Iban to which to donate, inviting citizens to make an economic contribution because, according to him, “Vicofaro welcomes hundreds of migrants rejected by the reception system completely free of charge”. And he hasn’t spared what appears to be a not too veiled attack on politics, perhaps “guilty” according to him of not supporting Vicofaro. “We are in difficulty: welcoming hundreds of people free of charge has important costs, especially when utilities reach these record figures – Don Massimo declared to the newspaper La Nazione – we are alone and abandoned by all the institutions, we operate thanks to the support of volunteers in the total indifference. Our reception center does not deny anyone a roof, but the public must take matters into their own hands. We hope for a change”. Especially since in the Pistoia district the discontent of the newly established residents’ committee has not yet subsided: many Vicofaresi have for some time been reporting episodes of degradation which they say can be traced back to the reception activity of the parish, between abandoned waste and episodes of theft and drug dealing of narcotic substances of which some of the foreigners welcomed by Don Massimo would have been the protagonists in recent years. However, there could be new developments, because the committee has already announced in recent days that it intends to write to the Vatican and to Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi. Finally, without forgetting the case of the twenty-year-old Gambian reported and repatriated for resisting a public official, whom Don Biancalani has allegedly decided to adopt (and the first hearing is scheduled for next March 21st). In Vicofaro, therefore, news is expected in the coming days.