«God knows that, in addition to being beautiful, we are fragile, and the two things go together: a bit like Venice, which is splendid and delicate at the same time». Francis arrives in the Lagoon for the first time (the last pontiff was Benedict XVI in 2011), and is the first Pope to visit the art Biennale, the pavilion set up by the Holy See in the Giudecca women’s prison (“Every time I go to prison I say to myself: why them and not me?”). There is something symbolic inimage of the Pope leaving his wheelchair to cross the Giudecca Canal aboard a patrol boat, who from Punta della Dogana travels across a pontoon bridge on an electric car to celebrate Mass in Piazza San Marco. The Redeemer, Saint George, Health. The sky is clouded, but a little sun has come out: Francesco looks around and admires the miracle of «this city built on water» which «without the care and protection of this natural setting could even cease to exist», says in the homily: “This is also our life.” There are ten thousand faithful divided into the neat sectors in front of the stage, on the Correr Museum side; the space in front of the Basilica is left free for the Pope’s final homage to the remains of the first evangelist, and the paradox is that everything appears more orderly and less chaotic compared to the siege of tourists in the last few days (here is the story of the day). «If we look at this city today, we admire its enchanting beauty, but we are also worried about the many problems that threaten it: climate changes that have an impact on the waters of the lagoon and on the territory, the fragility of buildings and cultural heritage but also of people, the difficulty of creating an environment that is on a human scale through adequate management of tourism…” .
Francesco’s visit began in the Giudecca prison, among the works of art, the artists and the inmates who participated in the installation, an example of reintegration: «Not to “isolate dignity”, but to give new possibilities!». AND Bergoglio spoke of art as the biblical “cities of refuge” along the Jordan, places that “disobey the regime of violence and discrimination to create forms of human belonging capable of recognising, including, protecting and embracing everyone, starting from the least”. There is a need for the arts to become “a sort of network of cities of refuge”, he said: “To free the world from senseless and now emptied antinomies, but which seek to gain the upper hand in racism, xenophobia, inequality, ecological imbalance andaporophobia, this terrible neologism which means “phobia of the poor”». The theme of this year’s Art Biennale is “foreigners everywhere”: e Francis denounces “the rejection of the other”that “selfishness that makes us function like solitary islands instead of collaborative archipelagos”.
For this reason he says: «I implore you, artist friends, imagine cities that do not yet exist on the map: cities in which no human being is considered a stranger». Going towards others, he also said this to the young people he met in front of the Salute: “Leave your cell phone, it’s useful for communicating, but meet people!”. This is how Venice, «has always been a place of meeting and cultural exchange», is called «to be a sign of beauty accessible to all, starting from the least, a sign of brotherhood and care for our common home”, explains Francis to the faithful in Piazza San Marco: “By remaining united with Christ we will be able to bring the fruits of the Gospel into the reality we live in: fruits of justice and peace , fruits of solidarity and mutual care; careful choices to safeguard the environmental heritage but also the human one: we need our Christian communities, our neighborhoods, our cities, to become hospitable, welcoming, inclusive places.”
