Attacks spur Italian racism concerns

ROME, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Italy is tolerating "discrimination, xenophobia and racism" as incidences of violence against black immigrants mount, Vatican leaders say.

A recent spate of attacks on immigrants has led some Italian politicians to say the country is facing a "racism emergency," while Pope Benedict XVI met this month with President Giorgio Napolitano to call for church and state to work together on what the Pontiff called "worrisome new signs" of worsening social tensions, The New York Times reported Monday.

The papal comments came as Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, denounced "discrimination, xenophobia and racism" toward immigrants in Italy.

Meanwhile, anti-immigrant pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is coming from the conservative Northern League, the Times said. That party is calling for new controls on immigrants as part of a pending security bill, including a system wherein even legal immigrants could be deported by racking up a certain number of "points" on their criminal records.

"You can't say all Italians are racist, but it would also be dangerous to underestimate what's happening," Jean-Leonard Touadi, a black member of Parliament, told the newspaper.