“When you meet the other, when you see him with your own eyes and touch his suffering with your own hands, you can no longer remain indifferent.” Every day, in the Mediterranean, we fight to save human lives. And those same lives, immersed in a sea of pain and hope, “saved” a young boy. This is Mattia Ferrari, a 30-year-old priest from Modena, who has transformed his ministry into a mission of welcome and assistance. Don Mattia is the chaplain of Mediterranea Saving Humansone of the most active NGOs in rescuing shipwrecked people.
The roots of the vocation
Born into a Christian family in Formigine, a town in the province of Modena, Mattia grew up in an environment of lived faith and concrete service for the least. “My family taught me to love like Jesus, to be close to the marginalized,” he says. «I grew up in contact with the Minime nuns of Addolorata and with the Salesians of the Don Bosco oratory, and little by little I felt the call to follow Jesus specifically as a priest».
The road ahead, however, was not without difficulties: at 18 years old the death of his friend Fabrizio, due to an epileptic attack, leads Mattia to a profound crisis. «At that moment I asked myself: “What is the true face of God?”», he says honestly. It will then be the meeting with the last ones that will provide him with the answer that will keep his faith firm.
Getting to know the stranger
Having become a priest, in 2015 he began to serve in the church of Sant’Antonio, in Modena. There he approached the world of migrants for the first time: he meets Martin, a young Nigerian who has just landed. «I remember that he entered the sacristy after Mass, he was alone and disoriented. At that moment I asked myself whether I should ignore him or love him… And in the end, well, I chose to love him”, he says. The parish thus becomes a place of welcome for migrants: not only a material refuge, but also a space for listening and dignity. From that moment on, Don Mattia Ferrari’s mission is increasingly aimed at them: at the excluded.
In 2018 he was contacted by the founders of Mediterranea Saving Humans, whom he had already met in some social centres, who they ask him to become a bridge between the Church and the NGOoften viewed with distrust. “It was a natural calling,” he explains. «Mediterranea was born to unite civil society in a mission of justice, and the Church could not stay out of it».
Human responsibility
Mattia speaks clearly, he does not hold back in denouncing the push-back policies that cost the lives of thousands of people in the Mediterranean. «What happens to migrants is not a fatality. Shipwrecks and rejections are the result of precise political choices and failures to provide assistance. We cannot continue to look away”, he states harshly. «People don’t drown by accident. There is a clear human responsibility in the choices that condemn migrants to risk their lives at sea or remain trapped in Libyan concentration camps”, he continues.
His commitment on board the NGO ship Mare Jonio immediately puts him in direct contact with the drama of those who flee. «Every time we are at sea we feel the weight of responsibility. Every life saved is a miracle, but every life lost is a wound that never heals» he says. Don Mattia, however, does not only deal with physical rescue. «I spiritually accompany the activists, many of whom are non-believers or of other religions. In such difficult times, even those without faith seek spiritual answers. My job is to listen, without imposing anything.” There are many criticisms that the young priest receives, yet he does not allow himself to be discouraged. “When you attack those who save lives at sea, you attack the Gospel itself,” he states firmly. «The Church cannot remain neutral. If he does not welcome and love, he loses the sense of his being».
His is a strong message, which resonates clearly, especially in a context in which these associations are often the target of political clashes. «The controversy against those who welcome is, in reality, a controversy against the word of God. If we want to be honest, then, we should blame those who commanded us to welcome the stranger. And that someone is Jesus.”
Convert the heart
Don Mattia Ferrari’s experience is not only intended to be a denunciation of injustices, but also an invitation to conversion of heart. «I have seen people completely change their attitude towards migrants. When you meet the other, when you see him with your own eyes and touch his suffering with your own hands, you can no longer remain indifferent. The heart opens and, with it, the mind too”, he explains.
“Migrants saved me,” he says simply. «They taught me what it really means to live the Gospel. I learned more from them than from any theological book or study.”
A statement that encompasses all the depth of his work and that invites us to look beyond appearances, to seek the face of Christ in the faces of those who suffer. His message is clear: welcoming migrants is not just an act of charity, but a Christian duty. «It is an integral part of the Gospel, it is what Jesus taught us», says Don Mattia. “If we lose sight of this, we lose our soul.”
