VENTIMIGLIA, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Antonio Suetta has issued a pastoral letter urging Catholics to evangelize Muslim immigrants living in northern Italy through public witness and explicit proclamation of the Gospel.
On May 24, Pentecost Sunday, Suetta published a pastoral letter for the his diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo, Italy, calling on Catholics to engage in the evangelization of Muslims residing in the region. The document, titled “There Is No Greater Love Than This,” announces that beginning with the 2026–2027 pastoral year, the diocese will undertake a specific missionary effort directed toward Muslim immigrants through catechetical formation, charitable outreach, and public witness to the Christian faith.
“We must take seriously the mandate of Jesus Christ: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” Suetta wrote near the conclusion of the letter, adding that proclaiming Christ is “the highest and most beautiful act of charity.”
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Suetta framed the initiative around the example of St. Francis of Assisi and his 1219 meeting with Sultan Malik al-Kamil during the Crusades. Referring to the Franciscan tradition, Suetta wrote that Christians should not conceal their faith among non-Christians, but should instead bear witness through both conduct and explicit evangelization.
The letter repeatedly stresses that Catholics should combine respect for Muslims with missionary activity. Particularly, Suetta underlined that Muslims arriving in Western countries often associate secularized European societies with Christianity itself, but may change their perception when encountering practicing Christians. According to the bishop, “welcome and witness already begin the proclamation [of the Gospel].”
He also argued that the Church cannot neglect missionary activity toward non-Christians. Addressing the question of whether Muslims may be saved without conversion, Suetta wrote that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, while also citing Catholic teaching that persons ignorant of Christ may possibly attain salvation under certain strict conditions. He compared evangelization to throwing a rope to someone being swept away by a river current.
“The Church certainly recognizes that the ways of the Spirit know no boundaries, and it teaches that someone who, in complete ignorance of Jesus, lives faithfully before God by following his conscience may, in some way, attain salvation – though with great difficulty and without any guarantee. In any case, one can be saved only through Jesus Christ, for since the Son of God came to dwell among us and accomplished the work of redemption, He has become the sole access to the Father,” Suetta stated.
The bishop announced that the diocesan Office for Catechetical Pastoral Care and the diocesan Caritas would organize formation programs and meetings dedicated to relations with Muslims. The first scheduled events include an October 2026 conference on interreligious dialogue featuring Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Suetta also devoted part of the letter to theological differences between Christianity and Islam. While acknowledging shared belief in one Creator God, he contrasted the Christian understanding of God as Father and love with what he described as the Islamic conception of a more distant deity. He further emphasized Christian belief in the divinity of Christ and in salvation through Him alone.
“Jesus Himself revealed His divinity when He said: I am the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6). For a Muslim, this statement is equivalent to saying that Jesus is God, because the Truth and the Life are two of the 99 names of God found in the Qur’an,” Suetta wrote.
“Certainly, the Qur’an rejects the idea that God could have a son, but the context refers to the polytheistic notion of generating offspring – something that cannot be attributed to God. It does not refer to the generation of the Word, which is eternal and purely spiritual, for the Son is the very Word of God. This is why the core of the Christian faith is not a theoretical doctrine but a Person: Jesus Christ,” the bishop continued.
Suetta’s pastoral letter appears unique against the background of the modern Italian church, where the leadership of the Italian Bishops’ Conference – including its president Cardinal Matteo Zuppi – has a leftist reputation on matters concerning migration and interreligious relations.
Suetta has previously attracted national attention for his public positions on moral and cultural issues. In December 2025, the diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo installed a “Bell for Unborn Children” at the diocesan curia in Ventimiglia as part of a pro-life initiative promoted by the Bishop.
The bell, dedicated to unborn children and rung daily at 8 p.m., generated much criticism from left-wing politicians in Liguria and across the nation, who accused the diocese of promoting “moral judgment” regarding abortion.
Responding at the time, Suetta defended the initiative as a call to prayer and reflection rather than a condemnation of women. He reiterated the Catholic Church’s teaching that abortion is morally wrong while also insisting on pastoral care for women who have undergone abortions.
The new initiative on evangelization follows several years of increased Muslim immigration in Italy, including areas near the French border administered by the diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo. In the letter, Suetta wrote that Catholics must maintain both charity and clarity in dealing with religious differences, insisting that “the announcement of the Gospel to Muslims must be made with delicate respect for their freedom.”