Thousands of mourners packed Parma's cathedral on Saturday for the funeral of an epileptic toddler whose kidnapping and brutal murder shocked Italians.
"This is a funeral that I would never have wanted to celebrate," said Parma Bishop Cesare Bonicelli, who condemned the "lack of heart and evilness of the assassins."
"I am as shocked and anguished as you are," he said in an address at the beginning of the ceremony.
For a month, Italians had hoped for the safe return of curly haired 17-month-old Tommaso Onofri, snatched from his home near the northern city of Parma on March 2. Hopes were dashed when one of his alleged killers led police to the child's body last Saturday.
"During these weeks Tommy entered our homes, he became a little bit our son," Bonicelli said, speaking before a little white casket and a crowd of mourners so large it spilled out of the cathedral.
More than 10,000 people showed up to show support for the little boy and his family, some carrying signs and pictures of the toddler. Italy's Civil Protection agency distributed postcards with a photograph of the little boy, and some people wept as the funeral car drove up to the church.
The bishop read a message from Pope Benedict XVI, who referred to Tommaso's "innocent life, cut down by inhuman violence."
The pontiff said he would "pray to the Lord so that He might welcome the soul of the deceased child and comfort the parents and all those who mourn his tragic death, and cause the repentance of those who perpetrated the abominable crime."
Two men and a woman have been arrested. The men -- one of whom is a construction worker who helped remodel the house of the boy's family -- are accused of murder. The woman is accused of complicity in the kidnapping. A fourth person is suspected of aiding and abetting the crimes.
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