“There is hope. And where we don’t see it, we go looking for it. Nothing is born from diamonds. Flowers grow from manure, and we here in Gratosoglio certainly have no diamonds. But we have many flowers – let’s not forget them. And if we don’t see them, let’s go find them. Outbursts of anger serve no purpose,” stated Father Paolo Steffano, parish priest of Gratosoglio’s pastoral community, during the funeral of Cecilia De Astis. The 71-year-old woman was struck and killed by a stolen car driven by four Roma teenagers.
“Certainly, we all feel some indignation; it cannot be otherwise. But anger is useless. Speeches, proclamations, and certainly not buck-passing – blaming another, another institution – are useless. Neither are documents about the suburbs or encyclicals on peaceful coexistence. What we need are concrete actions. That is what we need,” Father Steffano added.
Referencing Fabrizio De André’s song ‘Don Raffae’, the priest continued: “‘Front page, twenty news stories, twenty-one injustices, the State that acts, is dismayed, is indignant, commits itself, then retires with dignity.’ Taking up the words of our Archbishop, we need men and women with inner fire – concrete individuals,” he emphasized, “who inhabit and live our reality, not just talk. People who do not remain silent, who act concretely. And when they try to silence us, as Jesus said about Jerusalem, the stones would cry out.”
“In short, I like to imagine it this way: Gratosoglio needs institutions and private individuals who invest continuously in tackling educational poverty, in schools, sports associations, neighbourhood cooperatives, and parishes. But I would like to entrust all this to Cecilia. Cecilia, I take the liberty of entrusting our hopes to you,” concluded the priest. He also thanked the victim’s relatives for not giving in to anger.