CREMONA – He is still a flying bishop, but of the peaks and no longer the abyss. “Every now and then I go to the nearby flying club and do a few trips, there’s a nice runway.” Monsignor Luciano Capelli, 76 years oldhas given up driving the company due to having reached the age limit diocese of Gizoat Solomonthe paradise made up of 992 islands (of which 365 inhabited) in Oceania, in the Pacific, at the ends of the earth, and has returned to Tirano (Sondrio), where’s born. He was at home at Migliaro, where he practiced on a new seaplane: «You can say that Cremona saved my life twice while I was in the middle of the ocean. Now I’ll explain why.” In reality, the priest famous for his courage and his skills as a pilot, as well as for his contagious cheerfulness, the Cremonese he has known him since he was a child. «I was in the Salesians, in those times there was a flourishing of vocations. I went to school in Montodine and Fiesco. Unforgettable years. That’s where I learned to play football along the Serio: the penalty kick was taken but you couldn’t see the goalkeeper because there was fog.” Then theology studies and profession. «My superiors asked me where I wanted to be sent. In the place where there is the greatest need, I answered».
Since then he has taken Don Bosco’s work around the world, from the Philippines, where he remained for 34 yearsin Timor and Papua. And, in 1999after an earthquake that destroyed homes and churches, in the Solomons.
«The islands are thirty to two hundred kilometers away from each other. A vast territory, 18 inhabitants per square kilometre. At the beginning, to go among my faithful to spread the Gospel, I traveled by boat, an outboard. But the journey was long and dangerous due to the waves and the very variable weather.” And so he came up with the idea of small planean ultralight.
«The first to tell me about it were my friends from Sondrio. ‘You are crazy’, was my reaction.” Monsignor Capelli must have been a little crazy too, appointed bishop in 2007who, after accepting the proposal and obtaining the necessary licenses to become a pilot, convinced the the to buy a two-seater.
Monsignor Luciano Capelli at the Migliaro airport with Graziano Mazzolari
“To travel 170 kilometers it took me an hour and a quarter compared to 8-12 hours by boat. It also saved on gasoline costs.” Don Capelli has been to Cremona several times. The last and most important one was in March 2017 to sit at the controls of the seaplane, a Savannah white and bluealways made available by the Episcopal Conference. «I enjoyed trying it out on the Alps and up and down the lake As».
Before sending the plane to the other side of the earth, he trained at Migliaro with an exceptional instructor like Graziano Mazzolariowner of the Italian flying school of Corte de’ Cortesiwhich designs and builds floats for ultralight amphibious aircraft around the world.
“One day I found myself surrounded by lightning and had to land. I made it thanks to those ‘boots’ attached by Graziano. On another occasion – it was late afternoon when the currents rise more frequently and storms break out – I couldn’t land because of the winds. But, with that beautiful, fantastic plane, I found a nearby island, a less disastrous bay, and I made it.”
Monsignor Capelli thinks back to those chills and becomes emotional: «Cremona has a small place in my heart. It was the city that inspired me to put floats under the seaplane. Without them I would have died twice. So, go Cremona.
The diocese of Gizo has been entrusted to Monsignor Peter Houhou, the first local bishop. «While in our country parishes are closing and merging, those places are blessed with a rebirth of Christianity. And so I was able to retire in peace: I returned to Valtellinaat my parents’ house, who are no longer here, where I live with my brother. I help out at the nearby sanctuary. I had heart problems. Thanks to complete rest, my heart is now fine. Now I have diverticula, a 59-year-old gift from the Tropics. In October I will have surgery at Roma». From the ocean to the mountains, from one hymn to beauty to another. «There it was all flat, here it is all sharp. I enjoy a splendid view of the Bernina” He did not forget, he could not, the Solomon even if his mission, albeit at a distance, has not stopped. «In these years, many people have gone there 180 volunteers of our association: one left a few days ago; another one, Magdaleneshe went there 19 volte. It’s like the African blues. The relationships on those islands are wonderful, intimate, something we’re losing here. Of course, I feel a bit of nostalgiaeven if there is Lots of work to do here too. And then, with a keyboard in front, you can do a lot there too. It’s like having next door.”
Monsignor Capelli plans to visit in October, 3-4 monthsthose lands where he lived for 24 years. It will precede it, in September, Pope francescowith the trip to Oceania. «I do like the swallows that sooner or later return».
And the miracle seaplane? “It remained down there. In agreement with my successor, I put it up for sale, at auction. There are 3-4 interestslet’s see if they come to fruition”. In August the pilot’s license expires. “Will I get in line for the medical exam and to renew it? Of course yes”. It will continue to be the don of heavena somewhat overused definition but which every time gets him a sincere smile. «When the time for my resignation approached, do you know how I signed my name? Monsignor Capelli, cheap and flying bishop».
