During the riots in Milan last weekend, one of the masked youths flipped off a priest, who responded by returning the gesture. The moment was caught on video and quickly went viral on social media.
“Here’s what happened,” Father Giannicola Maria Simone told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “As these youths were passing by, one of them gave me the middle finger. They’re just kids, so it doesn’t surprise me. I responded with a middle finger of my own.”
Watch Below:
An Italian priest in Milan flipped off masked rioters after they chased tourists into his church.
— Alana Mastrangelo-Wrask (@ARmastrangelo) October 23, 2026
When asked if he regrets it, Father Giannicola Maria Simone said, "No. I just responded." pic.twitter.com/LVGKmKNJmN
Father Giannicola, who was observing the scene on the steps outside of the Church of Sant’Alessandro di Zebedia in Milan, explained that tourists fleeing the masked mob had rushed into the church.
“I was inside the church, watching what was unfolding,” he said. “Many people were fleeing the rioters, so I let them all in. They weren’t churchgoers — just tourists and other passersby. They stayed here until the chaos had passed.”
The priest, a Milan native, added that answering the mob with the same middle finger gesture posed “certainly no risk of inciting further rage.”
When asked if he regrets giving the mob the middle finger, Father Giannicola replied, “Do I regret it? No. I just responded.”
“I’m 65 years old and have worked with young people my whole life,” the priest said. “Sometimes, you just have to tell them, ‘Be careful what you're doing.'”
“Certainly, outside the context of these clashes, I would never have done such a thing,” Father Giannicola added.
Asked if he had a chance to speak with any members of the masked mob, the priest replied, “Yes, there were some youths sitting on the steps in front of the church. They were dressed in black — all Italians. I tried to strike up a conversation.”
“I wanted to understand what was going through their minds, but their answers were very vague. They said, ‘We don't know why we're here; everyone else came, so I came too,'” Father Giannicola added.
The priest went on to say he had no concerns that the rioters intended to enter the church, since they were already retreating from the city center.
“They were moving away quickly — except for the one who gave me the middle finger. He did that because he saw me, but they were all in the process of fleeing,” Father Giannicola said.
“They didn’t even know what they were doing,” he continued. “Many were recording videos, even live-streaming — so much so that my students from the boarding school, after seeing a live video, came rushing down to the square to defend me.”
“I just laughed and asked, ‘Defend me from what?'” the priest added.
Father Giannicola told the Italian newspaper that the mob represents “a minority among adolescents.”
“But they are a symptom of a much more widespread sense of unease,” he added. “If young people are bored, it’s because we’ve shut them all away and left them with nothing but a smartphone — something entirely artificial.”
The priest also noted that some people’s reactions to the viral footage “are highly ideological and politically charged, while others are supportive.”
“But, in the end,” Father Giannicola said, “Open dialogue always wins.”
Alana Mastrangelo-Wrask is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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