Bishop Nunzio Galantino, the secretary-general of the Italian bishops' conference, also criticized the burkini ban, saying that he found it "ironic" that officials are concerned about women who are overdressed while going out for a swim.
"It's hard to imagine that a woman [in a burkini] who enters the water is there to carry out an attack," Bishop Galantino said in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
"I can only think of our nuns, and I think of our peasant grandmothers who still wear head coverings," he said.
Religious sisters in full habit, including a long skirt, long sleeves and a veil, are a common sight on the beaches of Italy.
Italy's interior minister, Angelino Alfano, told the Corriere della Sera daily newspaper that he thinks the burkini ban could have the opposite of its intended effect.
"The interior minister's responsibility is to ensure security and to choose the severity of responses which, however, must never become provocations that could potentially attract attacks," Alfano said.
The recent overturning of the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet could signal the eventual end to the policy across the country. According to the New York Times, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve suggested in a statement that it was time for the local officials to back down, saying it was now "up to each and every one to responsibly seek to ease tensions, which is the only way to avoid disturbances to public order and to bolster coexistence."
But later on Friday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement on Facebook that the ruling "doesn't exhaust the debate that has opened up in our society on the question of the burkini."
Puppinck told CNA that Christians should be cautious in considering the secular government to be an ally.
"And we should remember that 100 years ago, the same Republican values were used against the Catholics," Puppinck said. At that time, the Third Republic officially established state secularism in France, causing a subsequent wave of anti-Catholicism, which included the end of government funding for religious schools, mandatory civil marriage and the removal of chaplains from the army.
(Story continues below)
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"So we should remember that the French Republic has always been anti-religious, so Christians should not imagine that the Republic is in some extent their ally, but keep faithful to our own hope and religion and values and faith."
Mary Farrow worked as a staff writer for Catholic News Agency until 2020. She has a degree in journalism and English education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.