Catholic priest says woman found God ‘in the Buddha’ during funeral speech

COMO, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic priest praised Buddha as “the Enlightened One” and let two Buddhist monks chant a mantra from the pulpit of his parish church in Como, Italy, during a funeral ceremony for a Buddhist woman.

On August 20 the ceremony for Buddhist woman Marta Pezzati took place at the church of San Martino in Como. Two Buddhist monks were present and chanted a mantra from the ambo, while parish priest Father Giusto Della Valle and another priest were shown in video footage wearing an alb and stole.

“[Marta] was a woman of contemplation, a seeker of God along every possible path, and she found this search in the Buddha – the Enlightened One who has, for centuries, continued to illuminate the path of many peoples,” Della Valle said during a speech at the event.

Della Valle – already known in Como for his liberal activism on migration – also recalled the commitment of the deceased Buddhist woman to welcoming immigrants in the city. “We remember 2016, when the Como train station was full of people … Marta and others worked hard to welcome them … while others kept building walls.”

He then added: “For the record: in 2017 we were reported to the authorities by the Lega Nord for having welcomed the migrants brought to us by the police. That wound is still open.… Either you welcome or you reject, and those who stay in the middle and do nothing stand on the side of those who reject.”

READ: Scathing DOJ report denounces Biden FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics

The priest praised Pezzati’s Buddhist spirituality, saying it is important to reach “the deep roots of one’s being” and to develop a contemplative perspective arising from “the roots of the religions from which we come.” Della Valle also referred to the Gospel account of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, focusing on Jesus’ friendship with Lazarus and his sisters by contrasting this relationship with what he called “the following of a theoretical Jesus made of prescriptions.”

The priest’s address concluded with an indifferentist exaltation of all religions. According to Della Valle, “each of us has our own image of Paradise after death: rebirth, regeneration, resurrection. Scripture speaks to us of all the peoples of the earth gathering on the holy mountain, without distinction.”

One of the Buddhist monks involved told Italian Catholic news outlet La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana that the gathering was “not a Mass and not even a funeral, but a remembrance of Marta’s generosity.” He said the church had been chosen because Pezzati and the parish priest shared a commitment to social work.

The monk also maintained that there had been no Catholic liturgy or Catholic prayer during the event. According to footage published online, the only explicitly religious element was the chanting of a Buddhist mantra, which was performed by two monks from the ambo.

A mantra is, according to Buddhism, a short phrase or sound that people repeat to help focus their mind and connect with the divine.

According to Can. 1210 of the Code of Canon Law, “only those things which serve the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion are permitted in a sacred place,” while anything not in keeping with Catholic piety or the sanctity of a Catholic church is “forbidden.”