Archbishop: Italian agent killed in Iraq showed lifestyle of heroism

Published: 2005-03-07

ROME (CNS) -- An Italian secret service agent killed in Iraq demonstrated a lifestyle of heroism, Italy's military archbishop said at the man's funeral. Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco said the generosity Nicola Calipari demonstrated throughout his life, personally and professionally, reached its peak when "he gave his life to save another." Calipari was killed by U.S. soldiers March 4 at a roadblock near the Baghdad airport as he was driving to freedom a female Italian journalist kidnapped a month earlier in Iraq. "His heroism was a lifestyle, not a gesture," the archbishop said. Archbishop Bagnasco, Italy's military ordinary, presided over Calipari's March 7 state funeral at Rome's Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. The funeral Mass was concelebrated by the agent's brother, Msgr. Maurizio Calipari, an official at the Pontifical Academy for Life, and Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

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