“Perché nessuno cammini solo” (“So that no one walks alone”). Father Proserpio and Archbishop Sangalli speak about being close to people at the end of their lives

Rome – “In today’s society, it seems almost taboo to talk about the end of life, as if naming it would bring it closer. But ignoring it does not make it any less real,” wrote Father Tullio Proserpio in a recent article about the processes – conscious or unconscious – that, in many societies, aim to push this inevitable event from everyday life.

Father Tullio, who exercises his priestly mission as a hospital Chaplain at the National Cancer Institute in Milan, experiences every day that, in the face of illness, frailty, and the profound questions faced by those who are dying, hope does not arise from abstract formulas, but can be realized in concrete gestures of closeness and accompaniment.

The experiences of Father Tullio Proserpio are recounted in a book entitled “Perché nessuno cammini solo. Venti riflessioni sulla morte” . The book’s chapters are based on twenty questions arising from the daily experience of accompanying sick people in the final stage of their lives. These questions are prompted, for example, by the difficulty of caring for the ailing body of a loved one over an extended period, or by the uncertainty of those who wonder whether there are truly helpful words one can say when comforting a sick person in moments of darkness and despair.

The book includes a preface by the Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, and an afterword by Archbishop Samuele Sangalli, Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization.

Father Proserpio and Archbishop Sangalli will meet on Friday, February 13, at 6:00 p.m. in Rome at the “Libreria San Paolo”, Via della Conciliazione 16/20 to discuss the themes and questions addressed in the book. This will be an opportunity to bear witness and acknowledge the potential fruitfulness of closeness to people at the end of their lives, closeness that consists of gestures and not just words. A silent closeness that humbly accompanies those who are suffering, without judgment, without trying to “explain” everything.
Recognizing that no one can face the hour of anguish alone. Thus, in simple, silent closeness to those who are approaching death, which remains a mystery of pain, a glimmer of hope can open to an encounter with the One who conquered death.

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