The display’s creator cited Pope Francis allowing priests to bless same-sex couples in his defense of the controversial scene © Catholic group Pro-Vita e Famiglia. Tens of thousands of Italians have called on Catholic authorities to condemn a Christmas nativity scene featuring the baby Jesus with two mothers instead of the traditional Mary and Joseph at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the province of Avellino after a pro-life organization called attention to the controversial display on Friday. Father Vitaliano Della Sala, the priest behind the provocative installation, defended it as a representation of his church’s growing diversity. “I wanted to show with this scene that families are no longer just the traditional ones,” he told Reuters on Saturday, explaining, “In our parishes, we se more and more children from the new types of families that exist and are part of our society, children of separated and divorced people, gay couples, single people, young mothers.”