Pope sends message to 2016 Rimini Meeting
(Vatican Radio)
Pope Francis has sent a message to the XXXVII Rimini Meeting for the Friendship
of Peoples. Each year in the Italian city of Rimini, thousands of people gather
for an encounter among persons of different faiths and cultures, with hundreds
of speakers from all over the world and from all walks of life.
The Pope’s
message for this year’s Meeting was conveyed in a letter signed by Vatican
Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
In the letter,
Cardinal Parolin describes the theme of this year’s Meeting —“You are good for
me” — as “courageous”. Too often in the modern world, he says, a certain
individualism tempts us to look only at our own concerns, or even to see other
people as a burden or a hindrance. But, he continued, in the face of the
changing age we are living in, “who can imagine he can save himself by himself,
and by his own power?” Rather, “following the example of the Lord Jesus, the
Christian always cultivates a thought open to the other, whoever he might be,
because he does not consider any person to be definitively lost.
With this
attitude, the Cardinal said, Christians can understand their unique
contribution to dialogue and communion: in the words of Pope Francis, “the
proclamation of the Gospel, which today more than ever finds expression in going
forth to bind the wounds of humanity with the powerful yet simple presence of
Jesus, and his mercy that consoles and encourages.”
This, Cardinal
Parolin said, is the hope of the Holy Father, “who encourages the participants
in the Meeting to be especially mindful of the creative personal testimony,”
with the understanding that what attracts others is not the strength of the
instruments, but the tenacious meekness of the merciful love of the Father,
that each person can attain from the outpouring of the grace that God offers in
the Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist and in Penance, to then give to the
brothers.”
The Rimini
Meeting takes place this year from 19-25 August.
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