Pope Francis called me, a gift - Cecchettin

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 6 - Pope Francis called Gino Cecchettin, the father of the 22-year-old biomedical engineering student Giulia who was kidnapped and murdered by her former boyfriend Filippo Turetta on November 11, 2023, in a case that shocked the nation, to express his closeness and support, it emerged on Tuesday.
    Cecchettin made the revelation during a presentation of his book 'Dear Giulia' at the Verdi theatre in Padua.
    He said the call was put through by Italian Episcopal Conference President Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.
    "He was the one who called me, saying: 'I'll put you through to the Holy Father'," said Cecchettin.
    The father of three who lost his wife the year before Giulia was brutally killed said he has a "somewhat equivocal relationship with the 'upstairs'", but that the pope nonetheless "represents two billion people".
    "When you hear his words you feel two billion people patting you on the back and supporting you. That is a gift," he said.
    The proceeds from the book will support awareness-raising and relationship education in schools as part of broad efforts, driven in part by Giulia's death, to address the issue of gender-based violence including femicide in Italy. (ANSA).