November the 2nd is, across the Catholic world, the day of the dead, a day when families visit the final resting places of their dearly departed, physically or metaphorically.

Thirty years ago today, on a patch of wasteground near the beach resort of Ostia, the brutally beaten body of poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini was found.

Pasolini was a controversial figure during his lifetime. A ‘Catholic Marxist’, who was expelled from the Italian communist party for alleged homosexuality, outside of Italy he is perhaps best remembered for his film The Gospel According to St.Matthew (Il vangelo secondo Matteo – paid for in part by the Catholic Church). Other films, like his final one Salo or the 120 days of Sodom (Sal