Thursday January 2, the lifeless body of a one-month-old baby was found in a cradle destined for abandonment in the San Giovanni Battista church in Poggiofranco, near Bari, Italy. The bassinet alarm and heating system has not been triggered.
This is a particularly tragic story. Since 2006, Italy has provided 70 cradles (or “baby boxes”) intended for the abandonment of infants in its churches and hospitals. Placed out of sight, these small bassinets are equipped with an alarm system, which can alert the priest or a doctor as soon as a child has been placed, as well as a small heater. A system which has already saved around fifteen newborns, but proved to be faulty at the start of 2025.
According to “La Repubblica”, Thursday January 2, 2025, a funeral agency went to the San Giovanni Battista church in Poggiofranco, near Bari, in Puglia, for a funeral. Passing by the crib intended for abandonments, which has already saved two babies in the past, an employee noticed that a newborn was inside. Unfortunately, the little baby, dressed in “a military-style checkered jumpsuit,” a sleeveless down jacket and a wool hat, was no longer breathing.
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The funeral director called the emergency services, but when they arrived, the rescuers could only note the death of the one-month-old baby, weighing 4.2 kilos and who was “all blue”, according to “Corriere del Mezzogiorno”. Since then, multiple questions have arisen.
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Because of an unlocked door?
Questioned by the police, the priest of Poggiofranco, who was in Rome that day, assured that he had not received any alert from the device supposed to activate when a baby is placed in the cradle and it would seem that the heating system of the cradle was not engaged. According to Vanity Fair Italy, it was probably the fact that the door to the small room in which the “box” was located was not closed which would have deactivated the system. An investigation is underway and will take a close look at the cradle and its triggering system. An autopsy of the newborn, who showed no signs of violence, was also requested to determine whether he was alive when he was placed in the church and/or whether he may have suffered from hypothermia. .
“I’m shocked. I did not imagine that this new year could begin in such a painful way: between the wars in the world and what happened today, before our eyes, I have the impression of witnessing a massacre of innocents”, reacted the priest, Don Antonio Ruccia, to “Il Messaggero”, ensuring that he believed that the baby was already dead when he arrived and that his parents had left him there to be offered to him a dignified burial. “This still demonstrates that the thermal cradle of our church is useful,” he insisted. I'm sure this newborn is already in heaven, he will be a beautiful angel. »
