Dozens of white balloons in the sky and a single message: “Ciao Mariano”. It is a community in mourning that has gathered today around the family of Mariano Olla , the sixteen-year-old from Sestu found lifeless Saturday morning in the waters of the small beach between Su Siccu and the Sant'Elia seafront.
The funeral took place at 4 pm in the church of San Giorgio Martire , decorated with numerous wreaths of white flowers as a sign of mourning. Presiding over the ceremony were Archbishop Monsignor Giuseppe Baturi, together with the parish priest Don Sergio Manunza and two other priests.
Many young people and very young people, in tears, gathered outside the church to say their last goodbye to Mariano. Before the religious service began, Don Sergio Manunza recited the Our Father on the threshold of the church, thus introducing the ceremony in this moment of deep sorrow.
During the homily , Monsignor Baturi spoke words of comfort and hope: "It is difficult to understand death in general, even more so that of a young person. It is the mystery of life , which can end fortuitously even when we are very young. Jesus went through death to show us that, where men can no longer stand by us, we find God to welcome us. This shows that no life is wasted. And the dead are not lost: they remain in us and with us, like Mariano, waiting for the new encounter". At the end of the ceremony, amid applause and general emotion, white balloons were released into the sky.
