No religious celebration will accompany the burial of the mafia boss Benedetto Nitto Santapaolahistoric head of Cosa Nostra in Catania. The archbishop of the Etna city decided it, Luigi Rennain accordance with the indications of the public safety authorities.
The choice follows the provision of the Catania police commissioner, Giuseppe Bellassaiwhich banned both public and private funerals for reasons of public order. The archdiocese announced that “no religious celebration is permitted” on the occasion of the burial, explaining, in a statement, that the decision was taken “taking into account the indications and assessments of the competent authorities, with the aim of preventing any religious moment from being exploited or transformed into events that do not conform to the specific meaning of the Christian liturgy”. The archdiocese also reiterated “respect for the provisions of the authorities” and reminded everyone “to have a sense of responsibility and respect for the established rules”.
The commissioner also established the methods for transferring the urn with the boss’ ashes. After the cremation, which will take place in Milan, the transfer to Catania must take place in a strictly confidential manner, along the shortest route, without motorcades and without any public ritual along the route.
Santapaola’s lawyer, the lawyer Carmelo Calìhowever, recalled that the boss had already expressed his desire not to have any funeral ceremony during his lifetime. “It has been known to me for some time that Benedetto Santapaola had communicated to his family members that he wanted to be cremated and that he did not want any funeral ceremony, either public or private”, explained the criminal lawyer, adding that the authorities’ measures were in fact “superseded by the wishes of my client”.
Santapaola, 87 years old, a life sentence prisoner under the 41-bis regime in the Carcere di Opera prison, died on 2 March in the penitentiary medicine department of the San Paolo hospital, where he had been transferred due to the worsening of his health conditions. Considered one of the bloodiest mafia leaders in Sicily’s recent history, he was sentenced to 18 life sentences, including those for the massacres of the Capaci massacre and the Via D’Amelio massacre, as well as for the killing of the journalist Giuseppe Fava and the chief police inspector Giovanni Lizzio.
On the death of the boss, Archbishop Renna also wanted to offer a reflection of a spiritual and civil nature, recalling the pain caused by mafia violence and the many victims of Cosa Nostra: «The death of a man like Mr. Santapaola», states Archbishop Renna to Christian family«it should make us reflect on the legacy of negative values and suffering that this life leaves behind. Now he stands before God in the truth of what has been. We remain to reconstruct a history that aims to dry the tears of those who mourn those killed by the mafia, with a commitment to legality and the dignity of the innocent victims of an absurd mentality that has impoverished our land. The suffering of so many victims is already a judgment in which the God we believe in, the crucified Christ, has participated, and asks us not to make any compromises with those who have used and continue to use violence, even with words of sharing so much evil.”
