Rimini, Italy - A widely used term to describe immigrants in Italy should be jettisoned because it is "ugly and evil," according to a senior Roman Catholic cleric. Francesco Lambiasi, bishop of the northern city of Rimini, referred to the expression "extra-comunitario" or "outside the (European) Community" in his Epiphany mass homily on Tuesday, the ANSA news agency reported.
Sounding deceptively neutral, the term is meant to describe a person from a country not belonging to the European Union but Lambiasi noted how it is often used interchangeably with derogatory names for immigrants.
"Nobody would dream of calling citizens of the US or Switzerland 'extracomunitari,'" said the bishop whose diocese numbers some 300,000.
Instead, according to Lambiasi, the term has acquired the same meaning as another name, "vu cumpra" - a mispronounced version of the Italian phrase "Do you want to buy it?" which mocks the language supposedly used by immigrant street vendors, especially those from Africa.
Surveys suggest that many Italians associate a rise in petty crime with an influx of foreigners, while Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ran his successful 2008 election campaign on a ticket including promising curbs on illegal immigration.
Several top Catholic officials and prominent publications have slammed attempts by the government to make illegal entry into Italy a crime.
