Fr Giancarlo Politi has died

Fr Giancarlo Polit

Source: Asia News

Fr Giancarlo Politi, a Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) missionary died last night. He worked for a long time in Hong Kong and China, building strong and stable links with Chinese bishops and Catholic communities. He was also formerly editor of 'Mondo e Missione' - the monthly magazine of PIME, and of AsiaNews.

Fr Politi was 77; he had been a PIME priest for 53 years. Two years ago he retired to Rancio di Lecco, the home for elderly missionaries. The funeral Mass will be celebrated on 24 December in the chapel of the PIME house in Rancio di Lecco at 9.30am. He will be buried in the PIME cemetery in Villa Grugana.

Born in Abbiategrasso (MI) on March 19, 1942, after attending Milan diocesan seminary, in 1961 he joined PIME in Villa Grugana for a year of formation. He professed his vows on June 25, 1965 and was ordained on June 28, 1966 in Milan by Card. Giovanni Colombo.

Initially placed in charge of vocations and youth movements, in 1969 he obtained a license in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University following a period of study of the English language in London. He was then sent to India where he was assigned an assistant in the parish in Mumbai and attended the theological faculty of the Pontifical University of Pune.

Unable to obtain a permanent visa for India, he was transferred to Hong Kong. For several years he was assistant cooperator in Tsuen Wan. Fr Politi was then called to Italy to be part of the preparatory commission for the General Chapter, and in 1977 he was brought to Milan as deputy director and administrator of the Missionary Centre.

In 1981 he returned to Hong Kong, first as parish priest of Yuen Long, then, in 1986, he was appointed Director of the HK Press Office and of the AsiaNews Agency. Recalled to Italy in 1993, he was appointed Director of the Missionary Centre in Milan and in 2001 he was requested by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples as an expert on Chinese issues. After the expiry of his mandate in 2003, he was appointed spiritual director in the PIME theological seminary in Monza and from 1 April 2012 to 30 April 2014 he was the legal representative of PIME in Italy.

In 2017, for health reasons, he moved to the Rancio community, have become aware of his illness - Alzheimer's disease. In a long interview, in a project promoted by the Alzheimer Italy Federation, he reached out to people living his same condition saying: "You are fathers and mothers, or brothers and sisters, even when you are sick. Don't weep over yourself. Medicines are only part of our life. What matters is the beauty of being alive."