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Italy: Man 'commits suicide' after failing to become a priest

A 29-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself from the city walls in the medieval central Italian city of Orvieto, apparently because the Vatican refused to ordain him as a priest.

Orvieto, 1 Dec. (AKI) - A 29-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself from the city walls in the medieval central Italian city of Orvieto, apparently because the Vatican refused to ordain him as a priest. In a suicide note found in his room, typed on his computer, Luca Seidita, said he killed himself because the Vatican had blocked his ordination on 7 December. "I wanted to be a priest, and dedicated my whole life to this goal, but it was denied me," Seidita, who was from Lecce in southern Italy. Seidita, who was a deacon, took his own life late on Tuesday - after the Holy See intervened directly to stop his ordination from going ahead on 7 December. The body was found by an Orvieto resident walking his dog. His body showed injuries consistent with having fallen 30 metres, but no signs of foul play. Magistrates were due to decide on Wednesday whether to order an autopsy. The Vatican does not intend to comment on Seidita, its spokesman Federico Lombardi told Adnkronos. Nor does it intend to state why it blocked his ordination, Lombardi said. "We are talking about one of the sacraments and the Holy See cannot provide any explanations," he said. "We are not saying anything," he added. The diocese of Orvieto-Todi on Tuesday informed Seidita in writing that his ordination had been stopped "due to the direct intervention of the Holy See". "The reasons for this will soon be subject to clarification... we pray that don Luca may soon recover from this great test," the Orvieto-Todi diocese wrote. In November, a 51-year-old priest named in reports as S.R. committed suicide on a railway line near the northern city of Bergamo. He had been exposed by Italian investigative TV show 'Le Iene' in April over his alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the Bergamo area. The priest had been undergoing psychological and spiritual therapy after he was removed from his post by the bishop of Cremona. Read more at www.adnkronos.com

 

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