“I hope that your absence can be a warning to the many young people here, that they are the ones who change this rotten world and make it a better place.” The words of grandmother Olga, read by a grandson, break the silence in the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Rosciano, where yesterday afternoon the funeral of Christopher Thomas Luciani, 16 years old, brutally killed with 25 stab wounds, last Sunday, in the “Baden Powell” park in Pescara, was held.
“You will always be part of me. I will never forget your smile. I love you,” read the boy’s girlfriend’s T-shirt. A long round of applause, tears and the floods of tears from relatives and friends greeted the coffin of Crox – his nickname for everyone – at the end of the ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of people, many of whom were forced to remain outside the church. To the tune of Ultimo’s song, “Rondini al guinzaglio”, red and white balloons were released into the air. Among those present at the funeral was Don Antonio Coluccia, the courageous priest of San Basilio in Rome who lives under escort. Among others, there were the president of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio, the prefect of Pescara, Flavio Ferdani, the police commissioner Carlo Solimene, the mayor of Rosciano, Simone Palozzo. Crox’s friends wore T-shirts in his memory.
The function – a day of mourning has been declared in the town – was officiated by the archbishop of Pescara Penne, Monsignor Tommaso Valentinetti, and the parish priest Don Mario Spadaccini. “I have had difficult funerals in my life,” the archbishop said during the homily, “like those of the seven children who disappeared in the earthquake in San Giuliano di Puglia, but this funeral is also very difficult for me because I have examined my conscience. The responsibility for such a violent act, the responsibility for such an early death, who bears it? Surely,” he added, “you will say that there are those who have committed acts that they should not have committed, but I believe that this is the moment in which we must reflect on taking responsibility.” In short, the principal reflected, “if these events happen, if the kids become uncontrollable kids, I believe that there is a dimension of responsibility that we must all assume without distinction: the institutions, the school, the families, the Church, everyone. We need a surge of responsibility because these things are not justifiable. These things are not understandable.”
The presence of so many kids, Valentinetti then highlighted, “of so many young people, and the many flowers brought to the place where this event happened, testify that you can have a jolt of humanity. A jolt of truth, a jolt that makes the weapons fall from the hands of the violent, that makes the new leprosy that is gripping the youth fall: drugs. I appeal and I could not do anything different and I know that they already do a lot, to those who have responsibility for control and government to stop the merchants of death”.
«Who killed this boy? We are all responsible – echoed Don Coluccia –. Your life is not up for auction. Fall in love with your freedom. The language of violence leads to perdition. It’s all against nature when a boy dies like this.”
Among the most touching moments was the one in which the message from Thomas’s grandmother was read, who had looked after him like a mother since he was three and a half years old: in addition to the warning about the need to change “this rotten world”, the woman hoped that young people could understand «the importance of the family and how it is always a safe place, a place where they can be fragile, talk about their fears and insecurities; grow and prepare for the hardships of life.”
In the meantime, the park where the tragedy took place has been closed to the public by order of the mayor to avoid the constant coming and going of curious onlookers. Yesterday, on the soccer field of the green area, on the synthetic grass, large writings appeared with the initials of the surnames of the two alleged perpetrators accompanied by the words “murderers” and “Christopher lives”; next to them, a symbol reminiscent of the “Deathly Hallows” from the famous Harry Potter saga. While Pescara is still in shock over the brutal murder and while many parents of very young people are wondering whether the city is safe or not, the Adriatic capital is experiencing a new summer weekend, with evenings at the beaches and events, just five days after the crime. Among the main initiatives is the Pescara leg of the “Rds Summer Festival”, which, yesterday, city councilor Domenico Pettinari, former vice president of the Regional Council, asked to stop. In the city, mourning lasted two hours, from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm, at the same time as the last farewell to Crox.
