A controversial priest known for his extremely pro-illegal migrant actions has been removed from pastoral services in Tuscany, the Holy See confirmed Thursday to Italian outlets.
For over a decade, Father Massimo Biancalani carried his priestly duties at the parishes of Santa Maria Maggiore a Vicofaro and San Niccolò a Ramini in Pistoia, Tuscany. Biancalani has been widely described by Italian outlets as the “Migrants’ Father” due to his radical pro-migrant stances and massive reception of numerous illegal migrants at the Vicofaro parish’s rectory and church grounds — hosting as many as 200 migrants at a time, according to the Italian news service ANSA.
The priest’s actions led to Biancalani finding himself embroiled in several controversies and legal disputes over the past years — one of which led to his now-confirmed removal from the two Tuscany parishes by the Vatican.
Over the past year local Vicofaro parishioners and residents repeatedly denounced poor sanitation conditions and other irregularities caused by the priest’s mass reception of migrants at the parish. Many of the parishioners reportedly abandoned Vicofaro in response to the priest’s actions.
A rigorous inspection of the parish by local health authorities last year found the facilities marred in extremely unsanitary conditions, in addition to evidence of multiple fire hazards, and the high risk of infectious diseases. The situation prompted Pistoia Mayor Alessandro Tomasi to request the police eviction of the 176 migrants that were housed by the priest in Vicofaro in June 2025.
Italian outlets reported at the time that not all of the migrants accepted to be transferred to other locations — prompting Bishop Fausto Tardelli to request further police intervention.
SkyTG24 recounted that the remaining migrants were evicted in July 2025. Bishop Tardelli also revoked Biancalani’s legal representation of the parish on grounds that he was “obstructing” the eviction. The priest, however, continues his pastoral service until his removal by the Vatican this week. According to the outlet, Tardelli sought to transfer Biancalani to another location as a solution to the situation, which Biancalani refused. The priest responded by filing two appeals before the Holy See — one against his loss of legal representation of Vicofaro, and the other against the transfer orders.
Both appeals were rejected by the Holy See this week, while also removing Massimo Biancalani from pastoral duties at the two Pistoia parishes. Per Italian outlets, Biancalani now has up to sixty days to file an appeal before the Holy See over his removal.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini referred to Biancalani’s removal in a brief social media post. Salvini has been an outspoken critic of the priest’s pro-migrant actions.
“The priest of the illegal migrants leaves Vicofaro. Time is a gentleman,” Salvini wrote.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Biancalani said he feels “disappointed” over his removal by The Vatican, but noted that he had already known about the decision for about two weeks.
“I would have liked it to have been handled differently, but in the end it leaked out,” he said. “We had expected, and had been led to believe a different outcome regarding the parish of Ramini.”
According to the Florence-based Controradio, Biancalani also acknowledged to reporters that the Vicofaro parish has suffered from a decline in attendance and sacraments as a result of his housing of migrants, and affirmed, “This has been known for some time because, unfortunately, welcoming migrants triggers fears.”
“In Italy it’s becoming increasingly difficult to provide shelter,” the priest said. “The right is fine with this system, but the center-left has also had many opportunities to reform it, yet it hasn’t done so because they fear losing public support.”
“What we’ve done [in Vicofaro and Ramini] is a wonderful thing, but it’s not well understood even within the Church itself,” he affirmed. “Ours was a great service rendered to the local communities as well. Is it better to have a young person living alone, unemployed, or with expired documents in a facility that takes care of him, or to have him on the streets?”
According to the priest, there are fifty “vulnerable” migrant children housed at the Ramini parish. He affirmed that he has not said anything to the group because he does nt want to “put them through another trauma, having to leave and end up back on the streets.”
“But someone who can read Italian has seen the newspapers and realized that something was strange,” Biancalani told reporters.
Asked on the matter of Deputy Prime Minister Salvini’s social media post, the priest reportedly told ANSA, “He’s always done that, day in and day out. It’s part of his style and his approach, which is unspeakable and highly irresponsible.”