Italy – Articolo 21, Jan. 01, 2026
During the initiative held in Assisi in support of the release of Alberto Trentini, his mother, Armanda Colusso, read aloud the letter addressed to the Pope, which we reproduce below.
Holy Father, I turn to You and apologize for taking some of Your precious time.
I am the mother of Alberto Trentini, from Venice, a young man who has always cared for the most vulnerable in various countries around the world (Ecuador, Peru, Nepal, Ethiopia, and Colombia), and who made this commitment his profession. As parents, we have always been proud of this. In his most recent work experience, last October, he was in Venezuela with the NGO Humanity and Inclusion, and on 15 November 2024, while traveling on a mission to Guasdualito, he was stopped and detained. We know that he is being held in a detention facility in Caracas, without any formal charges having been brought against him, and since then we have been able to speak with him twice, but no one has been able to see him. It has now been nine months, and we are desperate over the exasperating slowness of the negotiations. He is our only child and the reason for our lives. We fear that every additional day in prison undermines his physical and psychological balance, and this thought terrifies us. At home we are facing a difficult situation: my husband, Alberto’s father, who has been ill for some time, is distraught because he fears he may not live to see him return home free. From the very beginning we have been supported by our lawyer, Alessandra Ballerini of Genoa, and it is through her that we dared to write to You.
