Don Maurizio, hope does not die in Brancaccio
Fr. Maurizio Francoforte, parish priest of Brancaccio in Palermo, has passed away at 62, but his example of courage and mercy will remain
There are people who leave a long trail behind them when they go. And Fr. Maurizio Francoforte was one of them.
For 16 years pastor of San Gaetano in Brancaccio, where Blessed Fr. Pino Puglisi had preceded him, he passed away in Palermo on the very evening of Christmas Eve, as the Pope was crossing the Holy Door. He was 62 years old.
He returned to the Father’s House after a long illness, but especially after years of concrete witness, commitment, and merciful service, beyond
In an interview I did with him a few years ago, he had said, “The peripheries are treated like closets, where you put things you don’t need and want to hide. What is needed, instead, is a covenant of alliance.”
He was not asking for charity, Fr. Maurizio, but for justice, because “normal things” (like , for example, a playground for neighborhood children) were a right and a sign of attention and recognition.
He will be missed by the people of Palermo, who gathered for his funeral yesterday, Dec. 27, at the church of the Mission “Hope and Charity” on Decollati Street; however-as Archbishop Corrado Lorefice put it-“our hearts are broken, but they are serene because this is the Christmas of Don Maurizio Francoforte, the parish priest of Brancaccio who had and will continue to have in his heart the need to make concrete the message of the Martyr and Blessed Pino Puglisi. If we open our hearts to God, we the Christians can contribute to the realization of a human city redeemed from evil and the Mafia.”
There were many messages of condolence, such as this one from Anna Staropoli:
“Dearest Father Maurizio, how many moments we shared together traveling through the streets of Brancaccio. Thank you for your love for the neighborhood, for the youth, for the children; for your passion for the good of all and for the sense of social justice and honest sincerity that came out of your way of being. We love you and feel the love and responsibility of your wishes and dreams on the neighborhood, a kiss in heaven.”
Above everything, the coffin surrounded by all his young people whom he had always pushed to dream. With him, the staff that had been given to him by his friend Brother Biagio Conte.
Ready for a new pilgrimage of hope.
Source
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- FB profile of Fr. Maurizio Francoforte