Bishop Fausto Tardelli has temporarily closed a church in the Vicofaro parish of the Pistoia province to worship after two of the migrants it was hosting tested positive for COVID-19.

The facilities host almost 200 migrants and it was issued an order on October 7 to ''decongest'' its areas after being deemed unsuitable for hosting migrants.

The decision came after an order by Mayor Alessandro Tomasi, who on October 14, after the two tested positive, put the parish and its facilities in lockdown with only those with a proven health-related reason allowed to enter.

"Given the order by the mayor of Pistoia No. 956 of October 14, 2020, which ordered that access to the parish and external spaces be barred of the Santa Maria Maggiore parish church in Vicofaro as part of preventative measures against the spread of COVID-19," the bishop said in the order, ''for the sake of protecting public health and in collaborating with the relevant healthcare authorities, with this I order the closing the S.Maria Maggiore in Vicofaro parish church to worship until the end of the emergency as declared by the relevant authorities.''

'Now is not the time for criticism'

''I would like to take this painful occasion,'' Bishop Tardelli continued, ''to urge everyone to understand that now is not the time for criticism or other recriminations. Pointing fingers does not solve anything. Now is the time to join together to resolve this new emergency as best we can, which is unfortunately overshadowing what had previously finally seemed a promising beginning to a shared solution of the issue of migrants hosted in Vicofaro. I hope this can be resumed as soon as possible.''

Parish lockdown order

On October 14, Pistoia mayor Alessandro Tomasi signed an urgent order for the parish after two cases of COVID-19 were found among the migrants hosted. Tomasi ordered all the migrants hosted within the parish church and its surrounding building to be isolated for the sake of public health and that access to it be barred except for healthcare personnel or those assisting the people isolated.

The mayor's order, according to a statement by the town council, was based on a September 14 report by the local healthcare authority that stated that ''the relocation, without delay, is necessary for those hosted to facilities that are suitable in terms of capacity and health-related requirements'' given the high number of people in a small space and ''the lack of health-related awareness'' amid the COVID-19 emergency, as well as the ''resulting order by the Tuscany regional government, in which the people hosted there were ordered to be transferred after an inspection by the local healthcare authority.''