Pietro Lagnese, bishop of Caserta and archbishop of Capua, addressed the President of the United States, Joe Biden, directly in a letter to try to avoid the closure of the Jabil plant in Marcianise. The American company, active in the technology sector, has announced its intention to transfer production, putting 420 jobs and local related industries at risk.
The letter, delivered to the American ambassador to Italy, begins with words of sympathy and esteem for President Biden: “Dear Mr. President Biden, this letter may not surprise you: but the feelings that inspire it are certainly profound. I don’t know why, yet there is in my soul a mysterious ‘catalyst’ of hope and sympathy for her. Despite the abyss of time and space that divides us, an entire ocean, in my soul I find for her a connection of communion and a bridge of hope! Why? I do not know. Indeed, I know: because we believe in the only God.”
Lagnese continues by describing the difficult situation of Jabil, an American multinational with a factory in Marcianise, in the heart of his diocese. “I am writing to ask you for a small miracle. In my Diocese, the Diocese of Caserta, in Marcianise, there is a factory of the American multinational Jabil. The company, according to the managers, must leave Italy and obviously close the Marcianise site as well as other activities. There are 420 people who will be left without work in addition to the loss of related activities and the closure of the other connected Italian centers. At least 420 families will be left without a means of support.”
The bishop underlines that Jabil is not a company in economic difficulty: “Yet Jabil is not a loss-making or uninnovative company: it produces charging stations for electric cars, the cars of the present and the future; railway control systems in the high-speed market, the trains of the present and the future. And much more. There are therefore no economic or production reasons that motivate this transfer but, the workers explain, it is a geopolitical strategy of the United States to bring innovative companies back to America”.
The prelate’s appeal is clear and heartfelt: “We don’t want to ‘arm wars between the poor’ but we ask you for a small secular miracle. Intervene to defend these jobs in Italy, in Marcianise. Ask Jabil to find an alternative solution, new productions. We entrust ourselves to you. May Our Lady inspire you and assist you. Your task and your responsibilities are immense: for this reason we, in Caserta and Marcianise, pray for you. Thank you for what you can do and what you do for the world.”
Expert in Diplomatic and International Law. He has worked in the world of publishing and communication for over 30 years. He was representative of local publishers in FIEG, Administrator of Canale 10 and General Director of the Centro Stampa srl company. An attentive connoisseur of the Caserta reality.
