Which reminds me of a story from the Don Camillo series I gobbled up wholesale as you youth

(a free interpretation from memory)
The Communist mayor of an Italian mountain village secretly used to slip into the church to consult with god on local politics
A rival politician got wind of this, stationed himself behind a statue of the boy Jesus and, when the mayor began his prayers, would chip in with right wing propaganda outbursts
Eventually, the mayor had had enough; he spun round to face the offending statue and said, "I'm not talking to you, you little prick, I'm addressing your old man"
Jim