Farewell to Massimo Milone, former director of Rai Vaticano

He had started very young to be a reporter in Telenapoli, one of the first Italian private TV that with 380 kilometers of cable connected the televisions in the homes of the Neapolitans. Massimo Milone, 67, journalist of Rai, died this morning in his home for a sudden illness, then he has come a long way but has always had the enthusiasm, curiosity and humility of when he set foot for the first time in the editorial staff of the news of the pioneering TV.

Graduated in law, then joined Rai in the Naples office, he followed as a correspondent some of the most important news and current political events of the last 40 years. He was editor-in-chief of the Neapolitan office (for ten years) and then moved to Rome as director of Rai Vaticano on the day of Ratzinger's resignation. From 2002 to 2008 he was president of the Italian Catholic Press Union.

Last year he had retired but he was always ready to make his contribution even if to have marked him was the premature death (in March last year) of his brother Marcello, also a journalist, for decades in service at the press office of the Campania Region.

For years he was also a collaborator of the newspaper "Avvenire", for which he scrupulously recounted the works and protagonists of the Church of Naples, crossing on his professional path the last four archbishops who succeeded each other on the chair of Sant'Aspreno: from Ursi to Giordano, from Sepe to Battaglia.

With the beginning of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy he conceived the special The Jubilee of Francis, broadcast on Rai1, and followed the pontiff's trips to Cuba, the United States and Mexico. He was the author of numerous books and essays.

The funeral will take place tomorrow, (11 am), in the church of the Archconfraternity of Pilgrims - at Pignasecca - where only a few weeks ago, in a crowded room, he presented his latest book. The religious ceremony will be presided over by the Archbishop Emeritus of Naples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe.

Numerous messages of condolence were expressed to the family. "A great professional at the service of Rai and, particularly of Campania," wrote the president of the Regional Council, Gennaro Oliviero. A journalist "open to dialogue and confrontation with different worlds and cultures", added the president of the regional council of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca. For the mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, Massimo Milone was "an extraordinary professional of great sensitivity. To him goes the gratitude and the memory of the city".