By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Leo XIV encouraged those participating in the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples – commonly referred to as the “Rimini Meeting” – to be peacemakers, full of hope, who work for the common good, in a message released Thursday signed on his behalf by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Every year since 1980, the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples has taken place in the northern Italian sea town of Rimini in late August. This year’s theme is “In the vacant places we will build with new bricks.”
The Rimini meeting is an annual event, organized by the Communion and Liberation Movement, which draws large numbers of the faithful, who meet with various high-level individuals discussing key issues. It also offers various pavilions and activities for individuals, families, and children.
Hope does not disappoint
In the text, the Holy Father extended his greetings to the organizers, volunteers, and all participants, with his “heartfelt hope” that “they may recognize, with joy, that ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame.’ For ‘hope does not disappoint.'”
While deserts, the Pope observed, are typically places “cast aside” and “deemed unfit for life,” the Pope gave a clear reminder. “Precisely where it seems nothing can be born,” he recalled, “Sacred Scripture continually recounts the passing of God.”
Martyrs of Algeria
The Holy Father commended the organizers for the hallmark exhibition of this year’s Meeting dedicated to the witness of the Martyrs of Algeria.
“In them,” the Holy Father said, “shines forth the Church’s vocation to dwell in the desert in profound communion with all humanity—overcoming walls of mistrust that divide religions and cultures—by fully imitating the movement of the Incarnation and self-giving of the Son of God.”
Calling for unity, the Pope reiterated his words when addressing Italian Bishops in the Vatican in June to “promote pathways of education in nonviolence, initiatives for mediation in local conflicts, and projects of welcome that transform the fear of the other into opportunities for encounter.”
Peace is a humble path made of daily gestures
Always in this context, Pope Leo called for letting every community become a ‘house of peace’, “where hostility is defused through dialogue, where justice is practiced, and forgiveness is guarded,” adding that, “Peace is not a spiritual utopia; it is a humble path made of daily gestures…”
With this sentiment, the Holy Father encouraged all people “to name and give form to the new,” so “that faith, hope, and charity may be translated into a profound cultural conversion.”
For the common good and peace
The Holy Father suggested that this requires exploring ways for development that are “alternatives to paths for growth lacking equity and sustainability.”
“To serve the living God,” the Holy Father underscored, “we must abandon the idolatry of profit, which has gravely compromised justice, the freedom to meet and exchange, the participation of all in the common good—and ultimately, peace itself.”
“A faith that distances itself from the desertification of the world, or that indirectly contributes to tolerating it,” he warned, “would no longer be true discipleship of Jesus Christ.”
Risks of ongoing digital revolution
Reflecting on contemporary society, the Pope observed that rapidly developing technology cannot be forgotten.
“The ongoing digital revolution,” he cautioned, “risks amplifying discrimination and conflict; it must therefore be inhabited with the creativity of those who, obeying the Holy Spirit, are no longer slaves, but children. Then the desert becomes a garden, and the “City of God,” foretold by the saints, transfigures our desolate places.”
Finally, the Holy Father imparted his blessing and invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Morning. – Vatican News
