CAIRO – Despite criticism, a pair of Italian Christian bishops in Pistoia, Tuscany, has offered Muslim refugees an area to pray inside the church, as part of their plan to make new arrivals feel at home.

“I don’t see how it’s a problem, we can hardly make them pray in the cellar,” father Massimo Biancalani told La Repubblica, The Local.it reported on Monday, March 21.

“Besides, all they need is a prayer mat and a position facing Makkah.”

“Anyone wanting to pray in the church is welcome and if they want to go elsewhere, they can do that too,” he added.

The initiative allowing Muslim prayers inside the church was announced last week by Fathers Biancalani and Alessandro Carmignani.

It followed the arrival of 18 new refugees.

Though the behavior of the bishops received positive feedback, Archbishop Fausto Tardelli opposed it, saing the plan was a step too far that risked damaging attempts at integrating refugees into the local community.

“Offering a respectful welcome to people doesn’t mean providing them with spaces for prayer in Christian churches. There are plenty of better and more appropriate places available,” La Repubblica quoted him as saying.

“They [Biancalani and Carmignani] need to act carefully to respect the resident population if they want to achieve true social integration,” Tardelli added.

The Archbishop’s harsh words could not annul the bishop’ decision to help refugees.

“We are trying to provide an example of what the Catholic Church can do to help out during the refugee crisis and hope that the other parishes in Pistoia choose to follow our example,” they said.