Father Angelo Zilioli and the community in prayer on Thursday evening in the churchyard of San Zenone
A large group of faithful gathered in the churchyard: “They evicted him from his convent”
SAN ZENONE. It could have seemed like a moment of prayer for the fighting in Ukraine to stop. In reality, the approximately one hundred people who had gathered in the churchyard of San Zenone on Thursday evening, still in prayer, had done so for another reason: the return to the pastoral life of Passionist Father Angelo Zilioli, who has been following in particular for several years a community of faithful who found a spiritual guide in him.
A sign of closeness to the priest, now in convalescence following the Covid which had hit him very seriously: but for which the superiors, both of his order and of the curia, given that Father Angelo is incardinated in the diocese of Treviso as a collaborator pastoral care in San Zenone, they had decided on another destiny: the transfer to Arezzo to a Passionist convent.
A decision that his faithful do not agree with, who also point out measures that are not really canonical to convince him to obey. “We thought we could embrace him again and hear his insightful homilies from the pulpit of our territorial churches where he has always been a worthy support to those who preside over the parish of San Zenone”, say some members of the community that gathered around he. “We thought we could go back up to the Passionist convent and see him welcome us smiling as he always did, without ever forgetting the least and most disadvantaged who found in him a tangible sign of Christian charity, we will dare to say one of the few tangible signs of God’s mercy on our territory “.
Instead, a cold shower arrived: “Father Angelo was unable to return to our beloved convent of San Zenone and this was communicated to us from the pulpit where a communication signed by the diocesan vicar and the provincial of the Passionists was read, which forbade our friar to return there. We asked for explanations, well aware that in the congregations there may also be transfers, but we understood from the succession of information on the streets of our community that here we are dealing with something that goes beyond a simple transfer to another destination “. That is, the will to move away.
And here, again the community, relates a particular episode: “Among the employees of the eco-center of the Municipality of San Zenone it was said that they had seen people who threw Father Angelo’s clothes and personal items in the landfill, as if he were died”. It seems useless, any attempt to understand the reasons both on the ecclesiastical front and on the civil front: «These attitudes have given us confirmation that castles of lies have been built around Father Angelo; we understood that the Christian population had to remain in obscurity and ignorance; we understood from this chase of lies that someone simply wanted to assume the dimension of Pontius Pilate, probably to have advantages that are not in our dimension to understand or justify ». A very heavy judgment, but the community that refers to Father Angelo does not intend to give up: “We will continue to meet for prayer, following the teachings of Father Angelo and Pope Francis we will continue to ask for the truth so that light may be shed”.
Yesterday from the mayor Fabio Marin no comment. On the other hand, despite several attempts, we were unable to contact the parish priest Don Antonio Ziliotto.
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