A poisoned kiss, a fierce controversy. Yes, because placing one’s lips on the relics of the patron saint of one’s city has become forbidden. This is what happened in Catania to the mayor Enrico Trantino, who ended up in the crosshairs of a campaign of criticism and insults on social media after kissing the relics of Saint Agatha.
The gesture, as highlighted by Secolo d’Italia, took place during the celebrations of the ninth centenary of the translation of the relics of the Holy Patroness. On the churchyard, Archbishop Luigi Renna invited the mayor to kiss the remains of the Saint. A gesture that sparked a series of controversies on social media. Several users accused Trantino of creating scenarios of “medieval idolatry” and obscurantism. Among the criticisms directed at the mayor was also the claim that Saint Agatha “did not want to be touched nor kissed by the mayor.” Other users called it “shameful” that the relics were displayed in that way. And someone wrote: “A horrible thing.” However, the mayor did not back down. Trantino explained that he would do “that gesture a thousand times, because it is an act of spontaneous faith.” Moreover, Trantino’s gesture is not unprecedented. In Naples, in fact, when the blood of San Gennaro liquefies, it happens that representatives of institutions kiss the Patron’s reliquary. Antonio Bassolino did so when he was mayor and was never accused of anything.
The controversy also provoked political reactions. The President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, expressed solidarity with the mayor: “Incredible! The mayor of Catania, Enrico Trantino, performs an act of sincere devotion towards Saint Agatha, adored by the people of Catania who dedicate to her in February one of the most important religious celebrations in the world, and is attacked on social media by the inevitable stupid haters and more. To him goes my full closeness and solidarity, along with the applause that thousands and thousands of ‘devotees’ are giving him.” The President of the Ars, Gaetano Galvagno, also defended Trantino: “The controversy is sincerely pretextual, typical of these times marked by likes and shares on social media, which is unjustifiably targeting the mayor of Catania, Enrico Trantino, for the kiss to the relics of Saint Agatha.” Galvagno then called the criticisms “keyboard warrior insults” and added: “To my friend Enrico all my solidarity and the invitation to keep going as always.”
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