He holds court at Toasts the case” Corpus Christi. The historian procession religious celebration, which took place last Sunday in the city centre, also ended up in the eye of the political storm with the Democratic Party accusing the municipal administration of “not having been able to adequately valorise this important moment of faith and identity of Brindisi”. The reason is linked to the presence of cars parked along the route taken by the Blessed Sacrament. And if, according to the deputy mayor and mobility councilor Massimiliano Oggiano, there have been no particular complaints from organizers and faithful as well as requests to ban vehicles from parking, then it is best to dig to the bottom.
In Brindisi the religious procession is one of the most heartfelt and awaited moments, a ritual that has eight centuries of history and which involves a large part of the citizens. It was nothing new, therefore, to witness the great participation of the community for Monsignor Giovanni Intini: «It was definitely a nice moment», the words of theArchbishop of Brindisi-Ostuni. «Of course, the context has now changed and perhaps today there is less attention than in the past towards certain religious events, but I must say for example that this year also many people who were sitting at the tables along the route got up to a prayer. Not all, but certainly many people from Brindisi and people linked to the area.”
Even if some people didn’t really like the slalom between the parked cars. Intini, however, throws water on the fire: «Let me be clear: I don’t feel like starting any kind of controversy, at this moment it is exactly the last thing that is needed. What I can say is that when we carry out these external initiatives, understood as the Church at all levels, we ask the competent authorities for the necessary permissions. This is what we are responsible for, nothing else. Our request is to cross the streets – underlines the Archbishop – because we realize that traffic today has become complicated. Then, closing a road or doing so partially, prohibiting parking for cars and other aspects of this type is not something within our competence.”
As evidence of the value of the Corpus Domini rite, there are also those who nominate the procession as a UNESCO heritage site. The proposal came from the Homeland History Society, while one of the promoters, the historian Giacomo Carito, through our columns expressly asked for the return of the Paraded Horse, an ancient tradition put aside after the fall of Archbishop Caliandro in 2019. Even in this case, however, Monsignor Intini expresses his opinion with elegance and opening up to dialogue: «I have to tell the truth, it’s something I learned on the pages of the Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia. But I think of one thing: it is an event which, in addition to having a historical-cultural value, above all has a religious meaning. And it would have been correct not to learn of such a request from the newspapers, but to talk about it with the Church. However, I note that there is this desire, I learned it from your newspaper, after which we will try to make all the necessary reflections inherent to this thing”.
Intini’s final comment, then, is an appeal to discuss it: «On our part there has always been maximum openness to dialogue. In the week before the ritual I received messages about the Paraded Horse, explaining the reasons for the suspension. But there are no preliminary rulings and there never will be any. I said that the best thing would be to do a broad reflection both on the historical and cultural value, but also on the times that have profoundly changed. And we must also have the possibility of possibly conveying certain traditions by trying to contextualize them even in a profoundly changed moment like ours.”
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