(from Strasbourg) “Inter nos, I am writing a book. Would you like to preview it? You are the right person. You are a man of Europe”. In an interview with SIR news agency, Giuseppe Zaffuto, responsible for media coverage at the Council of Europe (CoE), reveals some personal memories of Mgr. Aldo Giordano, who recently passed away and whose funeral will be celebrated in his home town of Cuneo on 9 December. Mgr. Giordano was the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe from 2008 to 2013; he then left Strasbourg to serve as Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela before arriving in Brussels, this summer, to serve as Apostolic Nuncio to the EU. Mr Zaffuto hence recalls those words from Mgr. Giordano, explaining: “For once, he confessed to me, and not the other way round. We were sitting in the parlour of the Holy See’s Permanent Mission in Strasbourg, a stone’s throw from the Palace of Europe. Fr. Aldo gave me a draft of his book, and I took it home and read it, all in one go. Needless to say, everything was perfect. I only made a few stylistic suggestions. Here and there”. Mr Zaffuto goes on to say: “He was a great communicator. He was always very attentive to the news and to all press releases from the Council of Europe. Furthermore, he was a great organiser. With his charisma, he was always able to involve everyone in any activity, from Sunday Mass to outings”. And not least, “Fr. Aldo was a great lover of the European project. He knew all of its facets and was always making interesting and constructive proposals, especially in the context of the intercultural dimension of interreligious dialogue”.
Mr Zaffuto concludes: “We would meet again in Brussels after his years in Caracas. Maybe he was planning to write another book after his experience in Venezuela. He was a special person. He was a man of Europe”.