Emotion and prayers at the funerals of three of the five divers who died in the Maldives. In Genoa, Monica Montefalcone and Giorgia Sommacal, the professor from the University of Genoa and her daughter were greeted by a crowd of over two thousand people. «Monica was the sea and Giorgia the sun»we read in the song book. He also repeats it Don Pierino Cattaneoformer parish priest of San Francesco di Pegli, before the homily of the bishop Monsignor Marco Tasca. The priest, who had married Monica and her husband Carlo, remembers the woman, catechist and extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, who had the phrase from Psalm 23 tattooed on her arm: «If I were to walk in a dark valley I would fear no evil, because you are with me». And, said Don Cattaneo, «that Lord that Monica trusted came to take her right there, in that sea where she was looking for him hidden in the beauty of creation. And together with Giorgia, he took her by the hand and led her to his home.” The archbishop, however, recalled that «death, however, does not have the last word. Let’s think about Monica and Giorgia’s smile. Death cannot erase it. The beautiful memories experienced together do not die: they continue to live in the hearts of those who remain.” Furthermore, he added, “the grace asked of the Lord is only one: that he helps us to recognize his presence in every circumstance of life, even in the most difficult trials, even in pain and death”.
The small church of Cristo Re in Padua was also crowded, where the funeral of the captain of the boat, Gianluca Benedetti, was celebrated. Having moved to the Maldives 15 years ago, the 44-year-old often returned to the city to visit his elderly mother. A former official of a cooperative credit bank, he had also been a sports organizer for the parish. «Here”, said in the homily Don Franco Rimano, parish priest of Este, who had been a priest in the church of Cristo Re in the years in which the diver was in Padua, “Gianluca opened up to life and filled it with experiences and beautiful things. We could tell many episodes of this good boy that the Lord called to himself. What remains is the mystery of our life and its destiny and the love that Gianluca always knew how to express.”. At the end of the mass, a friend of the deceased diver commented from the pulpit: «Gianluca was a man of healthy values and with true passions, lived to the full. He never gave up but he never left anyone behind. He didn’t look for the stage, he made people want to be better. A free and authentic man, he loved the freedom of the sports fields and the sea, because you can’t pretend there.”
The funerals of biologist Muriel Oddenino and Federico Gualtieri were held in recent days.
Meanwhile, the three Finnish divers, Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund and Patrik Grönqvist, who received the Award of Merit of the Italian Republiccommented on the news like this: «We didn’t expect it and we are honored by Mattarella’s award». Awarded for having «distinguished themselves in the recovery operations of the bodies of Italian divers who lost their lives during a dive in the waters off the coast of the Maldives», in an interview with Tg1 they declared: «We are happy and moved, but we were only doing our duty. We were supported by the Maldivian authorities, Dan Europe and also by volunteers.”
