«The bodies that have arrived on our coasts in recent days remain from the Cutro massacre». This is the harsh warning launched by Monsignor Giovanni Checchinato, bishop of Cosenza-Bisignano and regional delegate of the Migrantes commission, during the celebration of the beginning of Lent in the diocese of Crotone-Santa Severina. The rite, strongly supported by the bishop of Crotone, mons. Alberto Torriani to remember the victims of the shipwreck of February 26, 2023, was initially planned right on the beach of Steccato di Cutro, but was moved to the sanctuary of the Greek Madonna of Capo Rizzuto due to adverse weather conditions.
In his speech, Msgr. Checchinato defined the massacre as “a piece of history that has not been accepted, it has been censored, denied and continues to be so”. The prelate then recalled the need not to look away: “All tragedies must question us, but those that happen to us even more so. This cannot be forgotten, it must push us to ask questions and ask for answers from those who are in some way responsible for these tragedies”. According to the bishop of Cosenza, the current one “is a Europe which claims to erase history, because migrations have always belonged to our continent. Wanting to oppose all possible and imaginable rejections means wanting to imagine that the sun is not there, simply because I say that it is not there”. Lent, concluded the bishop, remains welcoming, recalling the teaching of Pope Francis: “No one is saved alone”.