Pope Benedict XVI on Monday phoned the head of Italy's bishops to express solidarity following a death threat which investigators say could be linked to a resurgent Red Bridages terrorist group.
The head of the Vatican press office, Father Federico Lombardo, did not provide details of the conversation, saying only that "it was a private call, one of solidarity."
News of the pope's call came shortly after Italian President Giorgio Napolitano voiced support for Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco, telling him that Italians would "not abandon him" in the face of "vile threats".
In a message sent to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the president said it was important that Bagnasco be "guaranteed the tranquility to carry out his pastoral mission".
Genoa police said they were investigating possible links to resurgent Red Brigades after the fresh threat against Bagnasco, who has sparked polemics for comments linking rights for unmarried couples to incest and paedophilia
Investigators revealed that an envelope sent to Bagnasco on Friday contained a bullet and a message with the terrorist group's traditional five-pointed star symbol.
The hand-written message warning Bagnasco, who is head of Italy's Bishop's Conference as well as Archbishop of Genoa, that "he had mail" was flanked by a small star in blue ink.
Investigators said they were not ruling out other leads since the badly-written message contained spelling mistakes and could also be the work of a lone, unstable individual.
The envelope received by Bagnasco included a photo of the archbishop with a swastika drawn on it.
Messages of concern and solidarity poured in from politicians of all stripes, many of whom expressed dismay over the escalating climate of religious intolerance.
Premier Romano Prodi told reporters on Monday he had phoned Bagnasco on Sunday, after news of the death threat was revealed by Genoa police.
"I had a long conversation with the archbishop of Genoa last night, telling him that that these incidents are unacceptable".
House Speaker Fausto Bertinotti, former leader of the Communist Refoundation Party, warned of the escalating "dangerous climate", calling for respect and dialogue.
Genoa church sources said the archbishop had not changed his schedule and would go ahead with a Labour Day celebration in San Lorenzo cathedral on Tuesday.
Although there was no official reaction from the archdiocese to the show of support from Italy's leading politicians, a top Genoa prelate said he was certain that Bagnasco "had been very pleased" with Napolitano's message.
Don Silvio Grilli, editor-in-chief of Genoa Catholic weekly Cittadino, said he was convinced that Napolitano's message will prove to be "useful and precious because it will help restore calm to a situation that was becoming absurd and over the top".
Security had already been stepped up around Bagnasco after his comments sparked angry graffiti on the doors of his cathedral and several churches around Italy.
BAGNASCO APPOINTED HEAD OF CEI IN MARCH.
Bagnasco was nominated CEI head in March and since then he has spoken out strongly against a government bill which envisages legal recognition for cohabiting couples, including gay ones.
In a speech on March 31 he defended the Church's right to speak out on this and other issues where it believed the good of society was at stake.
He evoked paedophilia and incest as extreme examples of what happened when the Church's precise ethical limits were lacking. The remark sparked an immediate furore even though the bishops issued a note stressing that Bagnasco had not likened the rights of gay or unmarried couples to paedophilia and incest.
After the words 'Bagnasco Shame on You' were scrawled on the doors of Genoa cathedral earlier this month, the words 'Death to Bagnasco' accompanied by symbols of 1970s leftwing terrorist groups appeared in Genoa on Easter weekend.
As well as the anti-Bagnasco scrawls, leaflets with pornographic pictures of a bisexual Virgin Mary were found in the archbishop's cathedral at the end of Saturday's Easter vigil.
Earlier in the day posters appeared in the city centre showing Pope Benedict XVI shaking hands with Hitler or standing in front of a firing squad. Among the messages written on walls were 'Death to the Pope' and 'From Hitler's Soldier to God's Soldier' - a reference to Benedict's brief experience in the Hitler Youth movement.
The former head of CEI, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, lambasted the wave of anti-Church graffiti and death threats against the pope and Bagnasco, telling Corriere della Sera daily on Monday that the Church would not be "intimidated".
"We will speak even more clearly and forcefully," said Ruini, stressing that "solidarity" towards Bagnasco has been forthcoming from society as at large and not just Catholic circles.
Italian politicians from the governing centre-left alliance and the centre-right opposition also expressed solidarity with Bagnasco, condemning the fresh threat.
Not all Italians, the majority of whom are at least nominally Catholic, are behind the bishops on the issue of recognition for cohabiting couples.
A survey published in the Corriere della Sera daily earlier this year found that although 49% of Italians opposed the government's bill, another 47% were in favour.
Pollsters found that support for the bill would have been higher if the rights it contained had not been extended to gay couples as well as heterosexual ones.
