Pope Leone for the first time just over 100 days from the beginning of the pontificate is for lunch with 110 poor people of the Caritas of Albano (Lazio) at the Borgo Laudato Si ‘, the place that realizes and concretized the message of the encyclical of the same name by Pope Francis. At the table with the Holy Father two ladies: Rosalba Leon, Peruvian refugee, here for five months with husband and two children, and Gabriella Olivero, 85 years old, who lives alone in Torascapata (Rome).
Shortly before, celebrating the mass at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Rotonda in Albano, with the poor assisted by the diocese and the operators of the diocesan Caritas had said: «We are in an ancient sanctuary whose walls embrace us. It is called “Rotonda” and the circular shape, as in St. Peter’s Square and as in other ancient and new churches, makes us feel welcomed in the womb of God. Outside the Church, like any human reality, can appear spigolosa. Its divine reality, however, manifests itself when we cross the threshold and find welcome. Then our poverty, our vulnerability and above all the failures for which we can be despised and judged – and sometimes ourselves we despise ourselves and judge ourselves – are finally welcomed in the sweet strength of God, a love without edges, an unconditional love. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, for us is a sign and anticipation of God’s motherhood. In her we become a mother church, which generates and regenerates not by virtue of a social power, but with the virtue of charity “.
“I would like to thank, “said the Pope in the homily,” together with your bishop Vincenzo, all of you, who in the diocese of Albano committed you to bring the fire of charity. And I encourage you not to distinguish between those who assist and who are assisted, between those who seem to give and those who seem to receive, between those who appear poor and those who feel they offer time, skills, help. We are the Church of the Lord, a Church of poor, all precious, all subjects, each bearer of a singular word of God. Everyone is a gift for others. We break down the walls. I thank those who work in every Christian community to facilitate the encounter between different people by origin, by economic, psychic, emotional situation: only together, only becoming a single body in which even the most fragile participates in full dignity, are we the body of Christ, the Church of God. This occurs when the fire that Jesus came to bring burns the prejudices, the prudencies and fears that still marry the poverty of Christ. history. We do not leave the Lord out of our churches, our homes and our life. In the poor, however, let’s let it enter and then we will also make peace with our poverty, the one we fear and deny when we seek at any cost tranquility and security “, words on which to meditate, especially when in the public debate worldwide, safety is associated with walls to raise, lands to be cleared, instead of the integration between helpers and helped in a single social fabric.
“She, holiness, chose on this Sunday of her summer stay in Castel Gandolfo to welcome the humble invitation that we dared to address: it is here at the table with us and made this great honor to us. Thank you! “Said Bishop Vincenzo Viva in his greeting by welcoming Pope Leone to the Lasagna dell’Orto, Parmigiana, Vitella, Macedonia and Dolce Leone lunch, a sweet coraon for the occasion, white and yellow with the papal coat of arms, prepared with the collaboration of Borgo Laudato Si ‘and the Clarisse di Albano:”It is not a formal proximity or of circumstance, but it is a presence that we perceive as authentic, encouraging and full of paternal affection. It is a presence that tells us how we must be Church even today, following the example and teaching of Jesus, that is, alongside the most vulnerable, weaker people, to the little ones and those who are more injured by the circumstances of life and history. She reminds us today, Holy Father, that charity, diakonia, that is, the service made for love and love, is the beating heart of the Church and evangelization. This lunch today is certainly a unique and historical moment, but it expresses what we try to do every day in our listening centers and in the works-signs of Caritas: looking at the faces of those who are sitting at these tables today, we see the beauty of the Gospel that is made concrete and testimony of our being church of Albano. There are no “we” and “them”, there are no benefactors and beneficiaries: there are people who share bread and, with it, their stories, their labors, their hopes. In the work of every day that is done in the Caritas and in many other places of charitable service of our diocese of Albano, also animated by many religious and several other associations, we try to achieve the true communion that the Gospel teaches us: This is where charity stops being an abstract concept and becomes authentic relationship, listening and patient accompaniment that want to return above all dignity and justice ».
“Holy Father,” said Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the full human development and director of the Laudato Si ‘Higher Education Center, “with his return to Borgo Laudato yes after the Mass for the custody of the creation, She confirms a path that unites the care of the home common to the care of every person rooted in our faith in Jesus. There is no authentic ecology without social justice. It is the great lesson of the laudato si ‘and the social doctrine of the Church: the Christian charity completes and overcome justice, transforming it into concrete love. Today we see the prophetic dream of Pope Francis come true: Borgo Laudato yes is not just a place, but an evangelical lifestylewhich opens first of all its doors to the poor. Before speeches, before the inaugurations, fraternal sharing comes, because the evangelical hospitality begins with the poor “. Thanks, Holy Father, because with her presence she shows us that the Church is born from the Eucharist and becomes alive in the service. Thanks for being a sign of hope, fraternity and love that is made broken bread. Welcome, Pope Leo XIV. This is his home, and we are his family”.
At noon Pope Leone, at the end of the auelus celebration, meanwhile had invited the family of the world to the unity and dialogue, once again invoking peace: «We pray why efforts to cease wars and promote peace are successful; In order for the common good of peoples to be first placed in the negotiations ».
