Farewell to Samuele Fuschi in Palermo: Priest delivers harsh sermon on city’s neglect of its residents

“You killed him”. It is the cry of pain that rises outside the church of San Saverio in Albergheria, where this morning (May 20) the funeral of Samuele Fuschi, the thirty-eight-year-old man who died last Thursday afternoon on Viale Regione Siciliana due to a pothole in the asphalt, was celebrated.

The whole neighborhood participated in the religious celebration, offering their support to the Fuschi family, torn by grief and the void left by Samuele “that you must let be filled by faith – said the parish priest, don Massimiliano Lo Chirco – this space of pain that is amplifying you must leave it to faith”.

Don Lo Chirco wanted to speak to the family and especially to Alessio, the eldest son: “I saw the interview – said the priest – where you said you want to take care of your sisters: also take care of your faith. In that faith, you must support your family, but first of all yourself. Just yesterday we celebrated Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit that must renew the earth but it seems like we do not want to renew this earth, things are already fine as they are. And then things happen. A city that seems to almost forget all its inhabitants, it almost seems like it doesn’t want us.”

The priest’s words slip through the pews of the church, where the neighborhood is mourning Samuele. At the end of the service, waiting in the square for Fuschi’s coffin, were doves, released to fly free at the moment of leaving the church, when the family, amidst the emotional applause of those present, gave vent to their grief.