ROME, JULY 13, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Vatican reporter Giuseppe de Carli died today in Rome at age 58. He was undergoing radiation therapy.
De Carli was the Vatican reporter for RAI, Italy’s biggest television company. He had that position since 2003. He was also a long-time religion commentator for the Roman daily «Il Tempo.»
De Carli organized the October 2008 initiative “The Bible Day and Night,” a 139-hour marathon Bible reading with 1,452 participants. Benedict XVI started off the marathon and it was closed by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, reading the last passages of Revelation.
De Carli brought countless images of Pope John Paul II to Italy and he had also accompanied Benedict XVI on all his trips.
He authored numerous books, including a 2005 interview «Fare la Verità nelle Carità: Da Joseph Ratzinger a Benedetto XVI» (Living Truth in Charity: From Joseph Ratzinger to Benedict XVI).
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, commented on his death.
«His competence in the issues pertaining to the Vatican was profound and extremely vast,» Father Lombardi said in a statement. «We remember him with esteem, sympathy and great affection and we commend him to the Lord with our prayer.»
His funeral will be celebrated Thursday by Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.
