But Father Angelo Idi of Vigevano, a bastion of neo-fascist sentiment in Northern Italy, is making no apologies, according to Austrian Times:

Fascist Father Angelo Idi, 51 – who once saw off a charity box thief with a truncheon at his church in Vigevano, Italy – confessed: “I am proud of my right wing beliefs. But people shouldn’t care about my politics, they should care about how good a priest I am.”

So why wear the arm-band then, father?

As the story notes, there have been several instances of priests with far right views in this region embarrassing the Church. I hope there will be a follow-up to this, which I saw at Whispers.