A 72-year-old priest who reportedly gave up his respirator for a younger COVID-19 patient succumbed to the virus in Italy.
Father Giuseppe Berardelli, main priest in San Giovanni Battista parish, in Casnigo, died last March 22, local media reports said.
Berardelli reportedly refused a respirator which had been acquired for him by his parishioners and said it should be given to a younger patient.
He died in a hospital in Lovere, Bergamo, one of the most affected cities in Italy.
“He was a simple, straightforward person, with a great kindness and helpfulness towards everyone, believers and non-believers,” Casnigo town mayor Giuseppe Imberti said in a statement, Italian news site Araberara reported.
Residents of the town applauded from their balconies while the priest’s coffin was taken for burial. There was no funeral for the priest.
