Adel Smith, head of the Union of Italian Muslims, wrote to Pope John Paul II requesting the removal or destruction of a fresco from Bologna cathedral, Giovanni da Modena's Last Judgement, painted in 1415. The painting depicts the prophet Muhammad in a corner of Hell, naked and condemned to burn eternally as a heretic. In its letter, the union said the painting "constitutes an even graver offense to the religion than that caused by Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses," for which Islamic religious authorities called for the author's death. The union also called for the teaching of Dante to be suspended, for much the same reason.

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