«Houses are used to make money, rather than to house people. The city has become attractive to those with a lot of money to invest and a lot of money to launder. There is fear of the future. The system as a whole seems to be about to collapse.”
This is the portrait of Milan outlined by the archbishop Mario Delpini during the traditional Speech to the City, pronounced in the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio on the eve of the Patron Saint’s Day, in front of the mayor Giuseppe Salato the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana and numerous local administrators.
In his speech, Delpini describes a city suspended between fragility and resilience, between threats and opportunities, between the increase in the poor and the demographic collapse. But alongside the risks, it also indicates what can save it: everyone’s responsibility, the courage to “step forward” and the strength of faith.
The Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Delpini, during the Address to the City in the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio
(HANDLE)
Signs of crisis and decline
“We can also today recognize worrying signs and threats of collapse”, states the archbishop, citing the historian Cesare Pasini and the period of crisis experienced by Saint Ambrose with the imminent end of the Roman Empire. «Is the decline of our civilization a sealed fate? Will there be a reaction, a will to fix the world, a coming forward of men and women capable of dreaming and working for a better life for the common home?”, he asks.
According to Delpini, Milan and other cities experience complex tensions. «There are generations who do not want to become adults, boys and girls who transform the fear of life into aggression. Some isolate themselves, seek refuge in highs, drugs, gambling, alcohol. It’s not about malice, but about the brutality of actions, of those who don’t feel up to it.”
But the fear of the future of young people is also the result of the bad responsibility of those who should educate them: «The adult generation should realize that with his lifestyle and the tone of his speeches he does not convey to young people good reasons for wanting to become adults, to make definitive choices, to form a family and to have children», says the Archbishop, «the lack of hope and motivation generates distrust and confusion; the voluntary list of “you must”, “you should” insinuates in young people the conviction that they are not up to the expectations of adults and essentially that they are unfit for life”.
(Sant’Ambrogio 2025: The Address to the City of the Archbishop of Milan Mario Delpini (atex.dam.standard.Video.famigliacristiana – p.DamVideo))
The home emergency
One of the most urgent issues is housing, at the center of the “Schuster Fund – Homes for the People” launched last year by the diocese on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Caritas Ambrosiana. «Those looking for a house in the city have the door closed in their faces. Not infrequently he finds himself faced with soulless people or agencies: “You don’t have enough money or credit”; “You’re not Italian enough”; “Giving a house to you makes me less money than giving it for short-term rentals.” It seems the city doesn’t want citizens. Houses are used to make money, rather than to house people.” The numbers released by Caritas in November are impressive: in 2023, over 34 thousand people turned to the listening centers in Lombardy, reporting rent expenses equal to or greater than 40% of the salary, while in 2024 over 14,600 eviction requests were registered.
Fragility of the healthcare system
Delpini also denounces the dysfunctions in the healthcare system: «The imposition of protocols risks removing the “taking care”. Sometimes we forget about those who don’t recover, making palliative care not adequately accessible.” Despite the excellence of many operators, the archbishop underlines the need to pay attention to the human value of taking care: «It cannot be ignored that sometimes the fear of being ill and the expectation of being cured exert pressure on healthcare personnel that reaches the point of violence», denounces the Archbishop, «the waiting lists, the unbearable delay of time, the privilege granted to those who resort to paid private healthcare are worrying. These are all disturbing aspects. Private profit makes health a business. The private non-profit sector in the social and healthcare sector often feels ignored and humiliated. Public hospitals and their excellence risk being discredited. The imposition of protocols characterized by excessive reliance on treatment techniques risks removing “taking care” and taking responsibility.”
Prisons and justice
Prisons are an example of how repression can become the quickest solution: «The terrible conditions of prisoners and the very limited accessibility of reintegration paths betray the Constitution», is Delpini’s complaint, «overcrowding and violence generate anger and resentment, transforming prisoners into a potential danger for society once free. The remedy to the problem of overcrowding cannot be only by increasing the spending of public money to build more prisons. When a society makes detention the most obvious (and hasty) way to sanction crimes, it means that it is not really capable or committed to preventing crimes, encouraging the reparation of damages and creating the conditions to bring people back to legality”.
Sick capitalism and social responsibility
Delpini’s denunciation of sick capitalism and indifference towards others is very harsh: «In the financial capital, as many consider Milan, they recognize the deadly sins of finance understood as the cunning of making money with money. Sick capitalism serves individualism and ignores the social function and moral responsibility of finance. The city becomes attractive for those with a lot of money to invest. In the world at war, in the unjust world, in the world of uncontrolled luxury, the financial resources in the credit system are used recklessly to make the inequity that enriches the rich and robs the poor more dramatic. The city becomes attractive to those who have a lot of money to launder. Dirty money, with its stench of death, invades the city thanks to people infected by indifference, fear or greed and encourage the spread of viruses that are dangerous for the economy of honest people.”
Signs of hope and responsibility
Not everything, however, is lost: “The city resists because there are people who come forward”, underlines the archbishop. Concrete experiences become a symbol of responsibility: couples who take care of their children, young administrators who manage resources for the common good, educators who accompany children to live life as a vocation to goodness and happiness.
Delpini invites everyone to do not be complicit in the ruin of the common home: «I take responsibility for being honest, for not opening the door to dishonest money. My service to public order, vigilance over legality, closeness to citizens will be expressed with reliable honesty.”
A Milan that resists
«In our contemporary cultural context, those who take responsibility are surrounded by skepticism. But the house will not fall because you are there: heads of institutions, mayors, police forces, magistrates, entrepreneurs, doctors, educators, elders, adults and young people, who step forward every day and take up the task of fixing the world.”
