"I think it was just a serious warning," Father Giuseppe Campisano, the pastor of St. Rocco Parish in Gioiosa Ionica, told Vatican Radio Aug. 31.

The shots were fired late Aug. 29, "not in the middle of the night, but at a time when there were still a lot of people around, so I think they wanted to be heard."

News reports said three or four shots were fired at the car, which was parked outside the rectory.

Campisano was not in the car at the time. For years, the priest has received threatening phone calls and letters mailed with bullets in the envelope because of his commitment to fighting the 'Ndrangheta, the organized crime ring of Italy's Calabria region.