The Ervice Wa Anything But Formal, Featuring Ong , Mu Ic, and Word From the Young People and Educator of Exodu Chapter Acro Italy

The service was anything but formal, featuring songs, music, and words from the young people and educators of Exodus chapters across Italy and the world. Inter Milan president Giuseppe Marotta, among those attending, said, "Don Mazzi embodied the true Christian value of forgiveness and always managed to guide those who had fallen back onto the right path. He is someone to whom we owe great gratitude and whom we must always carry in our hearts.

Former celebrity agent Lele Mora, one of the first to arrive, remembered Mazzi as "a second father. Don Luigi Ciotti was also present, and Mayor Giuseppe Sala arrived among the last. The hearse carrying the simple light-wood coffin, topped with a sunflower, was greeted with applause.

Exodus youths, many wearing shirts with the priest's favorite sayings—"There is a time to be born and a time to be reborn" and "Reserved for those with a tremendous will to live"—welcomed the casket at the entrance. Hundreds had paid their respects in recent days at the wake at Cascina Molino Torrette, Exodus headquarters in Parco Lambro. "He was an absolute nonconformist, very blunt.

He did everything possible for these kids, acted as a father to them, recalled one elderly couple. "He was so great he seemed like family, said another mourner, adding that the area was "in a crazy state in the 1970s. There were ghosts, and he managed to save many of them. Archbishop Mario Delpini, unable to attend as he is visiting missionaries in Brazil, sent a message calling Mazzi "a man animated by an unshakable trust in people, even those given up for lost.

He wrote that Mazzi's secret lay in his faith in God, "a faith that makes people free, courageous, ready for risk and heroism, and that it now leaves everyone "some hope and some responsibility. Vicar General Franco Agnesi represented the Diocese at the ceremony.