MILAN – In the house with the mill, among the framed photos, there is one with the trunk of a tree and dozens of syringes stuck in it. It says: Parco Lambro, 1984. It is a warning not to forget the social swamp of heroin that swallowed up young lives, in this green lung between the San Raffaele hospital, the ring road and the blocks of flats of Milan 2. Forty years later , around Cascina Molino Torrette, flowers have grown and so has Don Antonio Mazzi’s Exodus foundation. 2024 is a year of round numbers for the priest of drug addicts and murderers. Last November 30th he turned 95 but despite the weight of age he is still there, on his desk without a PC, where the letters are written by hand.
Don Antonio Mazzi, why did you become a priest?
«Because I came from a poor family, my father died at the age of 30 of bronchopneumonia. After primary school they sent me to the Don Calabria boarding school in Verona.”
How did faith come about?
«The bishop of Ferrara was left with the seminary empty, he came to ask us for help. I agreed to go there because I knew that Bologna was nearby, with its university. But in 1951 the Po overflowed and there was a flood. One night the firefighters also asked for my help to look after the surviving children. That night I decided that I had to become the father of those who no longer have a father.”
Now Exodus has 40 communities across Italy. Did the Church support you in this work?
«I have never looked for the Church, I work with volunteers. The only one who helped me, in his own way, as a Jesuit, was Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini.”
Why did he never seek the help of the Church?
«Because I’m not interested in a Church like this: the walls remain but where is the spirit? It’s the reason churches are empty. The Pope went to visit Emma Bonino and the whole of Italy was surprised but it is something he should do regularly. The Pope is the bishop of Rome, he should always be with the people.”
What is your opinion on Bergoglio?
«The Argentinians are a bit like the Neapolitans: they know how to conquer, but then you also have to find the courage to do something concrete».
For example, what? «Open up to women, eliminate celibacy for priests and abolish seminaries. It is absurd to lock up boys in the seminary during their adolescence: it is obvious that problems of a sexual nature emerge later on».
Have you ever had temptations?
«I thought about it, yes. It saved me all the urgency that was outside. I thought: if I fall in love where will all this end?
Forty years of activity. What is his secret, if he has one?
«In San Patrignano they locked them up in communities. I made a different choice: I proposed to the desperate people in the Lambro park that they come with me on an adventure. And we left with the first caravan, 9 months around Italy, with bikes and camper. I have no secrets, I believe in open spaces, in alternatives to prisons.”
What are drug addicts like today?
«The problem is not just drugs, the most serious problem of today’s young people is that we have turned off their future. While yesterday’s society provoked, today’s society does not stimulate. The madmen of ’68 acted in the name of ideals, those of today just kill.”
She hosted various veterans from that season in her community.
«I had Marco Donat-Cattin, son of Carlo, who was also a minister of the DC. Then Morucci and Faranda. They didn’t pretend to be right, they simply asked not to be judged.”
Erika De Nardo also followed.
«Erika was saved by her father, who always followed her despite everything. She had a strong character, she was a leader even in prison. She has rebuilt her life, I haven’t heard from her for a long time.”
And Pietro Maso?
«I never liked him and, in my opinion, he is still the same Maso. I hope I’m wrong.”
They gave a life sentence to Filippo Turetta, the murderer of Giulia Cecchettin. What do you think?
«I apologize to Giulia’s father, but I am against life imprisonment. I don’t understand the meaning of it. I would ask Gino Cecchettin: you have lost a daughter and you know what it means to be without one, why must Filippo’s family feel the same abyss?”.
What, then, should be the alternative to prison?
«The strength of normality. We need these people to experience normality, only then will they come to our side sooner or later.”
A mistake made in recent years?
«A boy wanted to leave the community at all costs and I let him go. A few hours later the police came: he had committed suicide.”
A successful bet?
«Roberto was a fake valet in Rome, Renato Zero brought him to us: now he is responsible for a community in Calabria».
What do you think of the right in government?
“How someone like Salvini could have come to government is beyond me.”
And what do you think of Giorgia Meloni?
«I only like her because she’s a woman and it’s nice that she’s there but I believe in the ideal of anti-fascism. I think Prodi is still the best around.”
What memories do you have of Silvio Berlusconi?
«They asked me if he could come here to do the alternative to prison: I said he could come and clean the toilets for me. I met him only once, together with Don Verzé.”
What would be useful, in your opinion, to today’s society?
«The most urgent thing to do is to change the school. Today’s school is fascist: same programs for everyone. Every person has their own story. Only a great revolution in schools can change society.”
He turned 95: is his balance positive?
«I leave convinced that they can continue what I started. I haven’t done everything and that makes me happy.”
Don Mazzi: “I am a priest thanks to a flood. Turetta? I always say no to life imprisonment”
https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/12/11/news/don_mazzi_prete_exodus_intervista-423878874/?rss