Holy cow! Protesting Italian farmers bring bovine to mass with the pope | Italy

Italian farmers who were invited, along with a cow called Ercolina II, to mass at the Vatican amid ongoing Europe-wide agricultural protests have said the blessing from Pope Francis would give them the strength “to win the game”.

The farmers, their tractor and Ercolina II, who also made an appearance at the recent Sanremo music festival, were among the worshippers gathered in St Peter’s Square for the pontiff’s Sunday Angelus.

“It was a great surprise to receive an email and call from the pope’s secretary,” said Roberto Rosati, a spokesperson for Agricultural Redemption, Italy’s tractor-protest movement. “Giving us the approval to enter and attend mass in St Peter’s Square – this is an invitation that happens once in a lifetime. With this blessing we can find the strength to win the game.”

In return, the farmers said they would give the pope a tractor, “a symbol of our fight”.

“Our voice will not stop, we will follow the paths of dialogue and perseverance, with dignity and conviction to reach concrete goals,” they wrote in a letter to Francis.

Italian farmers and their tractors have appeared at several key monuments in Rome in recent days, such as the ancient chariot racing stadium Circus Maximus and the Michelangelo-designed Piazza del Campidoglio, which houses Rome’s city hall. Similarly to their European counterparts, the farmers are airing grievances over a variety of issues blighting their industry, including dwindling incomes, rising costs and the constraints imposed by EU measures to tackle the climate crisis.

Ercolina II belongs to Cristian Belloni, who owns a cereal production company and who has been transporting the animal around the country as an emblem of the farmers’ plight. The cow is the offspring of Ercolina, who was a protagonist in protests against EU milk quotas in the late 1990s.

Belloni recently said Ercolina II was accompanying the farmers on the road “to raise awareness” about the problem, especially “given that an animal brings peace”.

“If they want to produce synthetic milk and meat, it will cause many animals to no longer exist,” he added.

However, the use of the cow has been criticised by animal rights groups, who said bringing her to chaotic urban centres caused the animal stress and fear.