Pope launches canonization process for Italian fascist monk

Gianfranco Kiti. Photo: cappuccinilazio.com

On January 24, 2024, the Pope issued a decree recognizing the "heroic virtues" of the Capuchin monk and fascist, Gianfranco Maria Kiti, which could be the first step towards his canonization in the Roman Catholic Church, according to nominis.cef.fr.

Pope Francis received Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in an audience and authorized the issuance of decrees concerning several Catholic priests and monks, including the Capuchin monk Gianfranco Maria Kiti.

The Pope acknowledged the "heroic virtues" of Gianfranco Kiti, this monk who, according to Francis, underwent a "thorny life path from a participant in the Second World War in fascist Italy and a number of other military campaigns to a pastor and military priest."

The website of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints contains a detailed biography of Kiti, but it omits some details of the "thorny life path" of this individual.

The future saint of the Roman Catholic Church was born in 1921. At the age of 15, Gianfranco entered the Military Academy in Rome, and in 1939, he was admitted to the Military Academy of Modena. It is worth noting that Benito Mussolini was the head of Italy at that time.

In 1942, Gianfranco Kiti participated in Mussolini's operation against the Yugoslav resistance in Slovenia, and then went to war against the USSR, participating in the "Battle of the Don (on the Kursk Bulge)," where he was wounded and suffered frostbite on his legs, experiencing a dramatic retreat from Russia with his soldiers.

The website of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints does not mention that Kiti was awarded the Bronze Medal of the Reich "For Military Valor" and the Iron Cross.

Regarding his fallen comrades-in-arms who were fascists, Kiti said: "When I saw the bodies of my comrades, I naturally knelt down and kissed them because they died because of others' faults, because they were taken away from their families and sent to a distant country to die. I see in them the image of the Savior, because war is a consequence of sin in the world."

In 1943, Kiti joined the ranks of the Italian Social Republic (RSI), directly led by the Republican Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini.

Kiti was part of a grenadier unit that participated in numerous missions to combat communist partisans and provide assistance to the population suffering from those who supported the partisan fighters who were fighting against Mussolini's government.

On April 25, 1945, as a veteran of the fascist regime, Lieutenant Gianfranco Kiti was interned in two camps in Coltan and Laterine, created by the American-British Allied forces for war criminals engaged in ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the local population of Italy during Mussolini's rule.

Kiti was acquitted by a military tribunal, as during his time as a fascist officer, he contributed to the rescue of several Jewish families, and in 1948, he returned to the Italian army with the rank of captain.

From 1949 to 1954, he served as commander of the armed forces of Somalia. He retired from military service with the rank of major general in 1978 and applied to join the Capuchin order of the Roman Catholic Church. Kiti died in 2004.

The Secretary of the "National Association of Followers of Father Kiti", Agostino Caschelli, confessed in an email to an Italian journalist that the future saint remained a supporter of the Italian Social Republic (RSI) until the end of his life.

According to Caschelli, "a very important thing that has always caused many problems for the beatification of Father Kiti is the constant emphasis on his attachment to the RSI."

Caschelli explained that Kiti's position is justified by the fact that the RSI "is the only representation of the Homeland that he respected."

At the same time, he is forced to admit that "the proximity of Father Kiti's figure to the RSI slowed down and compromised his proclamation as a saint."

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the representative of the OCU Vasyl Sagan is confident that no one doubts the sanctity of many fighters of the fascist SS "Galicia" division.

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