Authorities in Rome have refused to allow a building next to a Catholic church to be converted into a mosque. The planned mosque, which is situtated in a densely populated and multi-ethnic quarter in the centre of the Italian capital, was supposed to open in September. However, municipal police say the community of Bengali Muslims who were carrying out the building works did not have the necessary permit. The mosque was scheduled to open in Esquiline hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome.

They are already served by seven Catholic churches, a Buddhist temple, a synagogue, a Zain prayer centre and a Chinese Evangelical church. Rome boasts the biggest mosque in Europe, built outside the city centre, about 3km (two miles) from St Peter's Basilica. A Rome city official in charge of ethnic policies has supported the opening of the new mosque but says authorities already had previous applications dating back nine years for the opening of new centres of worship from Buddhists, Hindus and Romanian Orthodox believers. So the new mosque may have to wait its turn.