“The Acli are a place where it is possible to meet “saints next door”, who do not end up on the front pages of the newspapers, but sometimes concretely change things for the good”: it was with these words that Pope Francis welcomed the audience this morning in the Paul VI hall the 6 thousand members arrived in the Vatican to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the association. The Samnite delegation was large: about a hundred from Benevento and its province to populate the caravan that arrived en masse, over 500, from all over the region. At the helm was the regional president Filiberto Parente, who carried on his shoulder the statue of Saint Joseph the Worker that Pope Pius XII blessed in 1955 and honored by the Pontiff.
“Let the ACLI – said Francis – be the voice of a culture of peace, a space in which to affirm that war is never inevitable while peace is always possible. In the context of a fragmented society and an individualistic culture, we have a great need for places where people can experience this sense of belonging that is creative and dynamic, which helps to move from I to we, to develop projects together of the common good and to find ways and ways to achieve them. This is the vocation of your “circles”: to open doors, keep them open, welcome people, allow them to build bonds of solidarity and a sense of belonging, to embark together on a path of integration that develops a culture of encounter in a pluriform harmony”.
“Our commitment to peace has always led us to build bridges of proximity, as evidenced by the twelve editions of the Walk of Reconciliation and Peace from Benevento to Pietrelcina, which has become a fundamental stage of our aclist style” declares president Filiberto Parente. “The hope, with the help of the institutions, is to propose a path to raise awareness of the non-armed and non-violent defense of the homeland, objectors of every form of war, to translate the words of Pope Francis to universal brotherhood, no one excluded ” he concludes.
