George Cremona, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy, writes:

Fr Charles Vella was a man of vision. I have always admired his indefatigable energy and his tremendous organisational abilities, as well as his outspokenness.

I met Fr Charles when I was looking for a place to study medicine in the summer of 1978 following the student upheavals in the wake of the reform of the Malta Medical School.

He was instrumental in convincing me to move to Rome to study. By that time, he was working for the weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana in Milan, and I used to meet him whenever he passed from Rome on his way to the innumerable Catholic family counselling centres that he opened across Italy.

Following my specialisation and professional career in Cambridge, we met each other again at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan. For many years, I admired his compassion for the weak and sick, his willingness to help people in distress and his great generosity, to the extent of opening his house to people in need and providing help for those who had somehow fallen on bad times both financially and psychologically.

I have fond memories of him playing with my children, and whenever he called at my office, it was always to try to help somebody – very often from Malta – in need of medical treatment.

Although he lived in Milan for many years, Malta was never far from his mind. He never lost touch with his country and strove to share his vision with Maltese church and political leaders. He was not always fully appreciated, and sometimes underestimated, but none could question his determination to do good for his country.

He will be missed by many.