Those who participate live isolated on a farm without heat, light and food. In promiscuous relationships and begging demands. Now the complaint from the relatives of a young follower has activated the prosecution
Around Miggiano, in Salento, there is a community led by a forty-year-old from Puglia who promises “peace and salvation of the soul”. What looks more and more like a sect, whose members live in an abandoned farm without heat, without light and without contact with the outside world, is a story reconstructed by Francesco Oliva on Republic of Bari. The Facebook page of the Saints of Salento group opens and closes continuously. The group attracts more and more young people from all over Italy. And that’s worrying. Also because the code of the “sect” provides for strict rules which impact the health of its members. Anyone entering must give up their job, have sexual and romantic relationships with other members of the group, and eat or drink in very small quantities. Indeed, four days of fasting are planned “to purify the body and soul”. So, Repubblica explains, the parents of a boy turned to lawyer Rita Ciccarese and criminologist Diana Papaleo. They filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office for the offense of private violence.
Begging and odd jobs for a few euros
The community is based on the figure of the holy man, the only one who seems to manage the money of those who enter. And also those who provide money to support the community. As? Ask for alms or do menial work like cleaning the streets for a few euros. Among the followers, there is said to be a boy suffering from anemia. A young man who, given the community's code of conduct, finds himself in an increasingly degraded physical situation and suffering from malnutrition. And he doesn't abandon the group. The boy met the saint on social media and then decided to abandon his family to follow him. Online, the leader declared himself “a direct descendant of God with both psychic and physical healing powers and the spiritual leader of a therapeutic prayer group.” For those close to the young man, he is simply a crook. And now the prosecution is investigating the reality that continues to proselytize throughout Italy.
(on cover photo by David Tomaseti on Unsplash)
