Only one wish: after having placed the little one safely in the loving arms of his grandparents, run to Davide and Claudio and, together, crying, ask Jesus to welcome Federica, Pasquale and Maria into His Kingdom. We are experiencing it first-hand: sin takes its toll on every penny. We need mercy and pity more than we may believe. I keep repeating it to the young people I meet in schools, churches and oratories: everything that I take in addition for myself and that isn’t mine, I’m stealing from someone else, perhaps from you.
This rule applies in all fields. Claudio was wrong. He did something he should never have done. Others paid for his wickedness. A horrible thing. Federica was killed. We had hoped it would be the last, but that wasn’t the case.
Unfortunately, another sister of ours, Assunta, was murdered in Calabria by those who thought they loved her. Different stories, but, in some respects, the same.
Absurd dynamics that we can only try to understand. The human soul is an abyss.
Father Maurizio Patriciello
(HANDLE)
For those who believed – and believe – that the death penalty, life imprisonment without discounts, forced labor, invoked loudly for murderers, are the panacea that would protect us from these monstrosities, must think again, reflecting on the suicide of Pasquale Calzone, Assunta’s husband. He killed and killed himself, also taking away the satisfaction of being able to try and condemn him.
Claudio Carlomagno’s parents, Pasquale and Maria, also committed suicide. The pain and shame were too great. Public opinion, incredulous and saddened, has been cursing their son for days.
On social media – as always – there was a real competition to see who could invent punishments and tortures to wish on him. Useless, harmful, unfortunate words. Words that poison the air without adding or taking anything away from the drama we are experiencing. A woman was killed, a child was left orphaned, a husband made a mess. This man, however, is not alone in the world. He has a brother, a dad, a mom, a son.
Has anyone wondered how much unnecessary suffering his shouted or written words could add?
Attention, I’m not trying to make light of or trivialize evilon the contrary, I feel it in all its horrible extent. I’m not trying to justify the offender.
I’m just saying that those who do not suffer personally from a tragedy that has befallen humanity must feel the duty – as much as is possible for our fragile nature – not to throw dry wood on the fire, but to keep mercy alive by leaving justice to do its duty. Pasquale and Maria sank under an unbearable weight. The pain and shame crushed them. They let themselves die together.
And I don’t dare imagine their last hours, their last speeches, their last tears. And I see them again, when young and in love, they set off towards life. I see them again, full of joy, when Claudio was born. They would never have imagined what turn their existence would take. In moments of maximum psychological fragility, of strong nervous and emotional tension, you just need to be picked up and slowly accompanied to quench your thirst from the river of hope.
It’s not easy. It wasn’t for poor Pasquale and Maria. It wouldn’t have been for you and me.
These are extreme situations for which no one is prepared. The world collapses on you in an instant. You look around and only see rubble. Guilt destroys you. Panic attacks follow one another. You know you have no mitigating factors. Your son did a monstrous thing, it’s true, but you continue to love him. You are his mother, you are his father. You have the right – and the duty – to do so.
When the mother of Alessandro Impagniatiellothe killer of Giulia Tramontanoin front of the cameras she said: «My son is a monster» I wrote her an open letter in which I begged her not to do it: «No, you, mother, don’t say it. Let at least in your heart, this poor murderer, feel that he has a place to rest…”. We are shaken. We are confused, astonished, in disbelief, speechless.
Believers know they find comfort at the feet of Jesus Crucified. They know that Pasquale and Maria will be judged by Him with the wonderful yardstick of mercy. If just one word we have to say or write in these hours may it only be of comfort for Davide, for the little one, for the family. And, allow me, even for Claudio. And if we really don’t know how to say this word, then we ask the Lord for the grace to be able to remain silent. “Place, O Lord, a guard over my mouth,” implores the psalmist. «Stop my words if I don’t tell the truth», echoes the poet Clemente Rebora. And “the truth” in these dark hours like the sky of Good Friday, are only the words of hope and love. Let’s pray. Fire is not extinguished with fire. Christians must oppose, with the strength of faith, a barricade to this asphyxiating, rampant evil. Send, Lord, your Spirit to renew the earth.
