A Catholic priest in Northern Italy made the ultimate sacrifice for another patient who’d contracted the coronavirus.
This priest, Suffering from the coronavirus, gave up his ventilator to give to a younger patient and has died. His name was Don Giuseppe Berardelli. He was 72 years old, from Bergamo. pic.twitter.com/3N1ONtxFjO
— John Stone (@Johnthemadmonk) March 23, 2020
Don Giuseppe Berardelli, Archpriest of Casnigo in northern Italy, died on March 15 or 16 in a hospital in Lovere from the coronavirus after giving up his respirator to someone else who needed it, via Araberara.it.
According to reports, Berardelli, who was 72 years old, didn’t know the person to whom he gave his respirator. They were reportedly younger than him.
A google translation of the a healthcare worker in Italy is quoted as saying “And I am deeply moved by the fact that the archpriest of Casnigo, Don Giuseppe Berardelli – to whom the parish community had bought a respirator – renounced his will to assign it to someone younger than him.”
What a beautiful picture of exactly what Christ calls each us to do, caring for our neighbor, even unto death. It doesn’t get much more selfless and loving than that.