At a Catholic church in Milan, Italy, a young man and woman from South America entered each day for about a month and sat before a statue of the Madonna. The priests assumed they were just like any other devoted Catholics, coming for prayer. Day after day they came, sat for an hour or so, and left. One day the cleaning man noticed an unusual electrical cord leading from the plug used to provide electricity to light up the statue. Upon further examination, it turned out the young couple had been coming to church to charge up their cell phone battery.

The parish priest, Don Antonio Colombo, told Corriere della Sera newspaper, "They come here because they don't have a house. The church is their house and letting them charge their mobile phone is a bit like giving them a glass of water."