Franco Citti's character's story?
I'm still left confused by this tale. What exactly happened? It seemed to me that the sinful main character lied on his death bed to appear to be a saint at death.
shareHe's not a saint. This is one of Pasolini's jests at christian dogma. The idea of the story is that he comes back to tell his friend that you don't really get in that much trouble after death for fornification and adultery.
shareI think you are confusing Franco Citti's story with another story in The Decameron.
Citti's character does not return from the dead as a ghost in the film, that was another man who was roommates with a pious friend.
Citti, after appearing in briefly in segues between several other stories, suddenly becomes ill. Although obviously is a sinful man in earlier scenes, he tearfully recants only very minor sins to a priest. They believe his lies and give Citti a huge, extravagant funeral for being a "sinless man".
I had been assuming that Citti's character was pretending to be dying until the final funeral scene, since the man spoke his false confession in a highly exaggerated, funny way.
This does seem like Pasolini poking fun at Catholic dogma, however. You are probably right.
Yes, Ciappelletto (Citti) is the one we see earlier picking a pocket and using the money to pick up a young boy.
On the trip, he stays with two disreputable usurers who worry about worsening their reputation by Ciappelletto's dying in their house. So he fixes their problem by lying to the priest. It shows how incorrigible he is that he would lie so outrageously during his last confession.
Ciappelletto's being taken for a saint is Passolini's making fun of the gullibility of the Catholic Church, particularly when it comes to saints.