An Italian village is mourning the loss of their priest who they say is a hero.

TGCOM24 reports that 72-year-old Father Giuseppe Berardelli was the archpriest of the parish of San Giovanni Battista since 2006.

He recently contracted COVID-19 and was admitted to hospital. His parish rallied together to purchase him his very own ventilator as Italy faces a wave of COVID-19 cases.

However, when Berardelli heard there was a young patient in need of a ventilator he made the decision to give up his own. He died on the evening between March 15 and 16.

Father James Martin, a priest and the editor of America Mag, 

 

“He was a simple, straightforward person, with a great kindness and helpfulness towards everyone, believers and non-believers,” the mayor of Casnigo, Giuseppe Imberti, says in a statement, Araberara reported.

"He was a priest who listened to everyone, he knew how to listen, whoever turned to him knew that he could count on his help," Clara Poli, mayor of Fiorano, where Berardelli had served as a parish priest, says.

Italy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with nearly 70,000 cases. Over 8,000 people have recovered so far, but nearly 7,000 have died. Among the dead are at least 30 priests according to TGCOM24. At least 16 of those deaths are from the diocese of Bergamo, in which Berardelli served.


 UPDATE:

A close friend of Berardelli's is pushing back against the Italian newpapers' reports surround Berardelli's death.

Giuseppe Foresti tells Catholic newspaper Crux that Berardelli's use of the ventilator aggravated preexisting health conditions and so he simply refused to use it and said to give to someone else in need.

“The problem is that when he got to the hospital, they tried to put the respirator on him, but he refused (to take it) because he couldn’t handle it,” Foresti says, noting that Berardelli was already in bad shape when he arrived.

However, he says, that doesn't mean the priest wasn't an amazing man. “I can tell you that certainly Don Giuseppe was a special person, he really gave himself to the entire community."