«When I pray, I always have in my mind the memory of my first pilgrimage to Medjugorje. I climbed Mount Podbrdo, where there is the statue of the Our Ladyand I knelt down holding on to the railing that surrounds her. Then, I looked up at Her. It was a beautiful image: in that clear sky the face of Mary stood out brighter than ever”. About ten years have passed since his first visit to the Madonna venerated in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and yet in the head and heart of Alessandro Greco, busy these days hosting the latest episodes of One Morning Summerthe memory is clearer than ever. Over the years, he returned several times, the last one last Holy Week, together with his wife Beatrice, with a group of friends including Francesco Villa, of the famous comic duo Ale & Franz.
“Every time the pilgrimage takes on different meanings, because we are different first compared to the past”, explains the presenter: “Often we arrive with a “desert” in the soul, to then leave with an interior luxuriance that was not there before. This is the effect that Medjugorje had on me, but I think it is valid for any Marian place. When we nourish an authentic devotion towards the Heavenly Mother, approaching Her with a sincere openness of soul and availability of heart, through prayer, we can receive “signs” of her presence, which then translate into messages or answers in everyday life. But we must not start with this intent: we must start first of all in search of ourselves, to make even more room for God in our life”.
In your pilgrimages to Medjugorje over the years, what is the thing that has struck you the most?
“Without a doubt the testimonies. Every time it’s a discovery, because you meet new people with a fascinating story to tell. And this is precisely the beauty of pilgrimages: you understand that life, despite its complexity and, at times, hardness, is a truly extraordinary gift.”
It makes us understand that listening is a fundamental part of the pilgrimage.
“Exactly. It’s beautiful to listen to the stories of others, which often push you to pray asking the Virgin to intercede for all people in difficulty. But above all, through listening, we can reflect on the fact that what seems to oppress us in everyday life and to which, perhaps, we give excessive importance, is nothing compared to the trials that so many brothers and sisters are forced to face every day.”
How does this devotion to the Heavenly Mother inspire you in your daily life, including at work?
«Precisely in this latest edition of One Morning Summer we have dedicated a space to the alleged apparitions of Medjugorje, which have been going on for 43 years now. At the editorial meeting, in choosing the assignment of the various spaces of the episode and, as if on purpose, it fell to me: a “Dioncidence” I call it. Clearly, as host, I was above the frayputting aside my personal connection with this place, because in any case it was a question of informing viewers about a topic on which the Church has not yet expressed a definitive position. The Lord says that a good tree is seen by its fruits. This tree has been growing for more than forty years and the fruits it gives seem good to me.”
Where does this attachment to the Virgin come from? Is it a family “inheritance,” or is it the fruit of a journey of faith?
“Certainly my family gave me an imprinting, we went to Mass together on Sundays and holidays. Then, life led me to undertake this journey of faith in which I wanted to search for Jesus as a person and not as a “character”. And in this the Madonna was fundamental. I am a rather “sanguine” type, sometimes a little rigid, and She is able to smooth out this character side of mine, helping me to practice that sweetness and tenderness of which she is a Master. The maternal love that she manages to instill gives me the sensation of being crouched under her mantle and enjoying her embrace and her protection. A truly beautiful sensation”.
Is there any saint you are particularly devoted to?
«My heart’s saint is Padre Pio: I was lucky enough to conduct twice A Voice for Padre Pio in prime time on Rai 1. It’s always nice to be able to talk about figures that I feel close to, it’s as if I were talking about something that belongs to me intimately. Like meeting up with family and having a chat with relatives”.
I imagine, therefore, that the bond with the sanctuary of San Giovanni Rotondo is also very strong…
“Absolutely, and it is precisely that family approach mentioned above that helps me to fully experience the spirituality of the place. The uniqueness of the Marian sanctuaries lies precisely in this: being able to make you feel at home, like one of the family. The one in San Giovanni Rotondo is only one, but then there is the one of Merciful Love in Collevalenza, the “Italian Lourdes”, where I often go.”
Are there other Marian places that you feel particularly close to, or where you would like to go?
“A special sanctuary, also close to where I live, is that of La Verna, where Saint Francis retreated in 1224 in a moment of deep spiritual crisis. Saint Paul, in the second letter to the Corinthians, wrote: “When I am weak, then I am strong”. There is a beautiful chapel there dedicated to Santa Maria degli Angeli, commissioned by the Poverello of Assisi himself, and throughout the temple there is no shortage of effigies that tell the life of Mary: from the Annunciation to her Assumption into Heaven. A place where I would like to go, instead, is the sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima. One day I would also like to go to the Holy Land. Unfortunately the situation at the moment does not allow it, but in this I have great faith in the Holy Father”.
By the way, what do you think of Francesco?
“For me he is great: when I look at him, I see the new evangelization, made of concrete actions and not just words. I had the honor of meeting him in December 2018, a few days after the feast of the Immaculate Conception. I imagined him much taller, but perhaps true greatness is interior, holiness. It was the same thing that was said of Padre Pio, after all: men small in stature, but with a gigantic spirituality. In Sala Nervi, when he passed in front of me and my wife, I no longer heard or saw anything: my gaze was fixed on him. And even in his eyes I understood that it was not a fleeting passage, one of those formal ones that are obligatory in these circumstances. He stopped to talk to us and was present not only physically, but also with his heart, almost as if to say: “I am happy to be with you, I want to be here with you and dedicate all my time to you because you are important”. The same thing that God does with us.”
One last question: what is the most beautiful memory of your last trip to Medjugorje?
“Certainly the visit to the community “Gesù confido in Te”, an association in Vigonza, in the province of Padua, which has a shelter there. They organized this pilgrimage and, personally, it is always a pleasure to be able to lend a hand not only financially, but also concretely as a volunteer. Here, I think that in this small example there is the whole meaning of the pilgrimages I was talking about. Going to discover ourselves, without “spectacularizing” faith, as instead, unfortunately, happens more and more often”.
