The Dicastery for the Clergy has rejected the appeal of Italian priest Massimo Biancalani and has confirmed his removal from the parishes of Santa Maria Maggiore in Vicofaro and San Niccolò in Ramini, in Pistoia. The ruling upholds the intervention adopted by the former bishop, Fausto Tardelli, after years of tensions surrounding the migrant reception center installed in the parish facilities and Biancalani’s rejection of the new assignment proposed by the diocese.
According to La Nazione, the Dicastery for the Clergy’s pronouncement closes this phase of the canonical procedure. Biancalani, known in Italy as the “priest of migrants,” had appealed the decision made by Tardelli before leaving the governance of the dioceses of Pistoia and Pescia.
A pastoral governance decision
The procedure against Biancalani does not stem from disciplinary violations related to his priestly conduct nor does it constitute a sanction for having welcomed migrants. The measure was adopted for pastoral reasons after years of difficulties surrounding the communities entrusted to him.
In the summer of 2024, Tardelli proposed that the priest leave the two parishes and take up a new assignment at the diocesan Missionary Office. The solution allowed Biancalani to continue his work related to the care of migrants, but outside the ordinary governance of Vicofaro and Ramini.
The priest rejected the transfer. He subsequently lost legal representation of the parish of Vicofaro and appealed the bishop’s decision through the procedure provided for in canons 1732-1739 of the Code of Canon Law.
Rome has now rejected that appeal and confirmed the measure adopted by the diocese.
A decade of tensions in Vicofaro
The parish of Santa Maria Maggiore began to gain national prominence from 2015 onward due to the migrant reception promoted by Biancalani. Over the years, the parish facilities came to house around 200 people, using various spaces linked to the parish and the church.
Vicofaro thus became one of the most well-known places in the Italian debate on immigration. At the same time, problems related to the hygienic-sanitary conditions of the facilities, coexistence, and the capacity of the parish spaces to accommodate such a large number of people began to emerge.
The situation also generated protests among neighbors and tensions within the parish community itself. Some parishioners began to stop attending the celebrations and activities held in Vicofaro.
The difficulties lasted for years and eventually forced both civil authorities and the diocese to intervene. The reception center installed in the parish facilities was closed in June 2025 for health reasons, and the migrants who were still there were transferred to other accommodations.
The conflict with Bishop Tardelli
The Vicofaro case accompanied much of Fausto Tardelli’s final years leading Pistoia. The bishop himself publicly referred to the complexity of a situation that had dragged on over time and affected both charitable activity and parish life.
The proposal to transfer Biancalani to the Missionary Office sought to separate the two spheres: allowing the priest to continue his dedication to reception and, at the same time, entrusting the governance of the parishes to another priest.
It was Biancalani’s rejection of this new assignment that opened the canonical procedure that has led to the Dicastery for the Clergy’s decision.
The case, therefore, does not sanction Biancalani for welcoming migrants or for a disciplinary violation, but responds to a pastoral governance decision made by the bishop after the priest rejected the assignment proposed by the diocese.
Biancalani can still appeal to the Apostolic Signatura
The Dicastery for the Clergy’s ruling does not exhaust all the priest’s legal options. Biancalani now has 60 days to file a new appeal before the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See’s highest judicial body.
However, the possible filing of that appeal would not suspend the effectiveness of the decision. Biancalani therefore ceases to be in charge of Santa Maria Maggiore in Vicofaro and San Niccolò in Ramini while the procedure continues if he decides to appeal.
The case now rests with the new bishop of Pistoia, Augusto Mascagna, who has expressed his intention to lead the situation toward a new pastoral phase and ease the accumulated tensions.
Mascagna will preside over a Mass in the church of Vicofaro with which the diocese intends to mark the beginning of a new phase “to accompany the new beginning of the community.” According to ANSA, Biancalani is not expected to be present at the celebration.
Salvini: “Time is a gentleman”
The Roman decision has also provoked political reactions. Italian Deputy Prime Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini, who for years maintained public confrontations with Biancalani over his positions on immigration, celebrated the outcome of the appeal.
“The priest of the illegals leaves Vicofaro. Time is a gentleman,” Salvini wrote on his X account.
The reaction reflects the political dimension the Vicofaro case acquired over the years. However, the resolution adopted by the Dicastery for the Clergy is limited to the ecclesiastical governance of the two parishes and confirms the pastoral decision previously made by the diocese.