Casa Sollievo commemorated father Salvatore Scopece, who died yesterday morning at the age of 79 after a long illness. “We could have published all kinds of photos of Father Scopece – in the church, in the sacristy, in the wards, in the corridors, with the sick, with the faithful, in the confessional. He was everywhere,” they declared. The priest’s life was characterized by his constant presence and dedication in many areas of the community.
“We chose two images: in a celebration of mass inside the department. In another he is portrayed on the telephone. He used 3 phones. The hospital cell phone, the hospital dect hanging from the Franciscan cincture and his staff. He was highly sought after. At every call from the health workers he rushed into the ward after a few minutes with his hasty and inimitable gait. He was always available. He cared a lot about human and spiritual relationships with the sick and with healthcare workers, to whom he always declared his availability.”
«He was the joyful chaplain, always smiling and with a loud laugh» thus recalls Sister Maria Loreta Silvestri, the superior of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. «Despite his illness he never stopped caring for the souls and bodies of the sick hospitalized. Lately he defined himself as “sick among the sick” and not even in the most difficult period of his life had he stopped welcoming, listening and confessing. He administered the sacrament of penance with profound dedication, like his holy brother Padre Pio».
“The last photo we received of Father Salvatore is wonderful, it shows him hospitalized in a bed at Casa Sollievo while a patient in a wheelchair in the Gynecology department confesses.” «Life is strange – he added on that occasion –. Before, I was the one who went to the bedside of the sick, today it’s their turn».
The funeral will take place in San Giovanni Rotondo, at 3pm on Saturday 8 Junein the convent church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The Immediate reports it.
