Thousands of people attended on 17 January, the funeral of Biagio Conte, a lay missionary based in Palermo who passed away on 12 January. He is the founder of the Hope and Charity Mission which was also known as a “modern-day St. Francis.”
Corrado Lorefice, archbishop of Palermo, Italy, and primate of Sicily, was the main celebrant of the Mass, which was concelebrated by numerous bishops and priests.
The funeral was held in the Palermo cathedral, which was filled to capacity.
According to official figures, approximately 1,500 faithful were present inside the church, and at least 9,000 followed the ceremony on giant screens placed outside and around the cathedral.
In his homily, Archbishop Lorefice stressed that Conte “prayed with trust in God, who was the compass, the North Star of his existence.”
Conte, 59, died on 12 January, from colon cancer, according to Italian religious news outlet SIR-Agenzia d’informazione.
Lorefice thanked God for the gift of Conte “to the city of Palermo, to the Church, and to the world,” because “he was a faithful lay Christian, a brother who believed in the Word of God to the end.”
The archbishop noted that Conte’s life was a “simple and powerful testimony of his clear love for the Gospel” and he fought peacefully with fasting to demonstrate that “it’s possible to combat all forms of violence, all mafia structures and forms, and not be violent.”
Father Giuseppe Vitrano highlighted the witness of Conte, who lived in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, “a land martyred by the Mafia,” adding that “the Mafia can be defeated with the sanctity of life.”
In the wake of Conte’s death, Lorefice invited people to pray and to “make concrete gestures of charity, reconciliation, and peace.”