The Diocese of Bergamo confirmed that Fr. Giuseppe Berardelli died last week after contracting COVID-19. He was 72 years old.
Berardelli is one of 23 priests reported to have died from COVID-19 in the Diocese of Bergamo located in the region with one of the highest rates of coronavirus infection in Italy.
A total of 6,820 people in Italy have died of coronavirus, the Italian Ministry of Health reported March 24. Among the dead there have been at least 60 priests, according to local media reports.
In his televised Mass on March 24, Pope Francis praised the heroism of doctors and priests who have died after treating or visiting the sick.
"I have heard that some doctors, priests have passed away in recent days, I don't know if [there are] any nurses [who have died]," the pope said March 24.
"We pray for them, for their families, and I thank God for the example of heroism they give us in treating the sick," Pope Francis said.
The following is a list of the priests reported to have died of coronavirus in the Italian Diocese of Bergamo:
Fr. Silvano Sirtoli, 59, Fr. Fausto Resmini, 67, Fr. Mariano Carrara, 72, Fr. Remo Luiselli, 81, Fr. Gaetano Burini, 83, Fr. Umberto Tombini, 83, Fr. Giancarlo Nava, 70, Fr. Tarcisio Casali, 82, Monsignor Achille Belotti, 82, Monsignor Tarcisio Ferrari, 84, Fr. Remo Rota, 77, Fr. Savino Tamanza, 75, Fr. Battista Mignani, 74, Fr. Alessandro Longo, 87, Fr. Guglielmo Micheli, 86, Fr. Adriano Locatelli, 71, Fr. Ettore Persico, 77, Fr. Donato Forlani, 88, Fr. Remo Luiselli, 91, Fr. Gaetano Burini, 91, Fr. Umberto Tombini, 79, and Fr. Giuseppe Berardelli, 72.
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.