Many people in the cathedral wanted to say their last goodbyes to Msgr. Giovanni Impoco, Gravitelli’s spiritual, cultural and social guide for over half a century. He passed away after a long illness which he, strong-willed, did not allow to keep him away from his people. How many families has he cared for in the 58 years of parish priesthood at S. Maria delle Grazie, 20 of which also shared with the community of Santa Teresa del Bambin Gesù in Gravitelli. How many stories heard and how many young people and very young people brought back to the right path with that loving rigor that only a father can have. An unconventional priest capable of being ahead of his time: he was among the first, in the 1970s, to introduce women into the ministry of altar service. A lover of life, in love with the Madonna delle Grazie to whom he entrusted his mothers and children every year in the first year of life.
Everyone was there in the Cathedral: family members, parishioners, representatives of pious associations, confraternities and other lay entities, priests and altar servers, the councilors Enzo Caruso and Nino Carreri. All saddened by the death of that little priest, capable of leaving an immortal legacy, but grateful to God for having given him. The flowers, the notes sung by his parish choir, as well as the many resurfaced memories, are the signs of a bond that nothing and no one will ever be able to break. “A priest responsibly committed in many areas. Our Lady and Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus always accompanied his ministry and guided him to the end; two pillars of simplicity and beauty. Attentive to the commitment of the confraternities, to which he transmitted constant zeal and responsibility”. This is how Archbishop Giovanni Accolla defined it, who concelebrated the rite with the auxiliary Cesare Di Pietro and the other priests.
And now from above he will continue to follow his people, testifying through each of them and through those who take up the baton of his ministry the beauty of life, a gift of grace, always.