The deadly coronavirus has claimed the lives of 60 catholic priests in Italy which has been described as one of the world’s worst-hit nation.
According to news reports, the latest to have died is Giuseppe Berardelli, 72, from Casigno in Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region who died in a local hospital in recent days after being diagnosed with the virus.
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The Italian priest died of coronavirus after giving a respirator that his parishioners bought for him to a younger patient, it has been revealed.
Berardelli had been given a respirator – which is in desperately short supply – by parishioners concerned about his health but decided to give it to a younger patient who he didn’t know but was struggling to breathe because of the virus.
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The exact age and condition of that patient are not known, but younger patients who are able to access respirators have a much greater chance of survival.
The extraordinary case was revealed by Jesuit priest James Martin, from the US, who is also a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications.
Italian news magazine Araberara first reported the story.
Berardelli – a well-liked priest who had underlying health conditions – was remembered for his charity and his love of motorcycles.
Praising him on Twitter, Martin wrote: “Greater love has no person…” (Jn 15:13)
He is a “Martyr of Charity,” a saint-like St. Maximilian Kolbe, who in Auschwitz volunteered to take the place of a condemned man with a family, and was killed.
Pope Francis has, however, urged priests to ‘have the courage and visit the sick’ despite risks.