In Trieste, a border town and crossroads of peoples, the Pontiff concluded the 50th Social Week of Catholics in Italy. The meeting with delegates from all over the country followed by the celebration and the Angelus in Piazza Unità. “Participation must be formed, with a critical sense regarding ideological and populist temptations.”
Trieste () – Sunday morning in Trieste with bated breath. Today the capital of Friuli is waking up slowly. The streets are in no hurry to fill up with people, a few shop windows are being absentmindedly cleaned. It is, however, a historic day: that of the visit of Pope Francis to conclude the 50th Social Week of Catholics in Italy, which began on Wednesday with a speech by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Approaching the “Piazza Unità” you can see the traces of what these days dedicated to the theme “At the heart of democracy” have been like: the graphics with the heart chosen as the logo, some collar pins collected at the information point four days ago; the “squares of democracy” – Ponterosso, Verdi, Hortis – still equipped, the stands that hosted the “good practices” of more than a hundred realities from all over Italy. All the streets seem deserted.
It is towards the sea, which is home to the port that gives the city the “vocation to bring together different peoples”, in the words of the Holy Father, that a special swarm is noticeable. The police and the white vests of the volunteers suggest a deployment reserved for great occasions, guarding the largest square, Unità d’Italia. Movement is prohibited and traffic is changed to ensure safety. It is 9 a.m., bottles of water and hats are distributed to protect against the sun while the delegates, protagonists of the work of the Social Week, from the dioceses spread throughout Italy, take their seats after meeting the Pontiff at the General Convention Centre at 8 a.m., in what was their first engagement of the day. Pope Francis, who landed at 7.54 a.m., was received by the authorities, including Card. Matteo Maria Zuppi, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, and Monsignor Enrico Trevisi, Bishop of Trieste. This was followed by a brief meeting with some ecumenical and academic representatives, with a group of migrants and disabled people, and with eight children brought to Trieste from Gaza on a humanitarian airlift. Then, transfer to Piazza Unità for the celebration at 10.30 am, attended by over 8,000 faithful.
In Italy, the Catholic Social Weeks have their origins in 1907, when the first one was held in the city of Pistoia, on the initiative of Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo. They are organised on a multi-year cycle. The last edition was held in Taranto in 2021, with the theme “The Planet We Await”, whose reflections were dedicated to ecology, prompted by the encyclical “Laudato Si”. It is an initiative that represents a modality of the relationship between the Italian Church and social issues. Thus, from time to time, the Social Weeks have challenged Christian movements throughout history on how to translate the social message of the Church into the present day. The edition that ends today was dedicated to democracy, a very topical issue if we think of the worrying abstentionism that has characterised the last European elections. And the choice of Trieste was not accidental. “It is located at the crossroads between Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans,” Bergoglio recalled in the Angelus recited at the end of the Mass. It is a border city, whose ecclesial and civil community is called to face the challenge “of knowing how to combine openness and stability, welcome and identity,” starting from the encounter with people from the Balkan route.
In the speech that Pope Francis read to the delegates gathered at the Congress Centre, starting from the heart made up of different individuals, symbol of the 50th edition, two reflections were shared. The first refers to democracy as a “wounded heart”. “Every time someone is marginalised, the whole social body suffers. The culture of waste draws a city where there is no place for others.” [para los vulnerables]”The Holy Father said. In this perspective, “power becomes self-referential, incapable of listening to and serving the people.” Thus, democracy is not only the vote of the people, but also participation, which “is not improvised: it is learned as a child, as a young person, and must be trained, including a critical sense with regard to ideological and populist temptations.” And again: “Democracy always demands the passage from partisanship to participation, from acclamation to dialogue.” The second reflection consists of an “encouragement to participation,” so that democracy may be a “restored heart.” “In social life, it is very necessary to heal hearts. “And for this, it is necessary to exercise creativity,” said the Pontiff. “Democracy is not an empty box, but is linked to the values of the person, of fraternity and also of integral ecology,” he said. The call to fraternity echoed the last encyclical letter of Francis, ‘Brothers All’, published in October 2020.
The Holy Father then addressed an invitation to Catholics: “Have the courage to make proposals for justice and peace in the public debate,” taking care not to defend privileges. Regarding political work, the Holy Father said that it is not a question of “occupying spaces” but of “initiating processes.” This was followed by the advice not to be “balancers of the present,” but “prophets and builders of the future.” This is also the role of the Church. Regarding peace, which has been much reflected upon in this edition of the Social Weeks, Francis returned during the Angelus. “From this city we renew our commitment to pray and work for peace: for the martyred Ukraine, for Palestine and Israel, for Sudan, Myanmar and all the peoples who suffer from war,” were the words spoken. Finally, the Pontiff invoked “the intercession of the Virgin Mary, venerated on Mount Grisa as Mother and Queen.” From Piazza Unità, with your back to the altar set up for the occasion and looking north, here is the Marian shrine, an unwavering witness to today’s words.
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