«Lèp, freedom is participation», the School of Civic Action of Rome of Catholic inspiration, will be in Sicily, in Palermo, on 18 and 19 July, on the sites of the mafia martyrs.
A secular pilgrimage, but also a spiritual oneon the places where some great personalities of our era were killed by the mafia for their rectitude, social commitment and care for the common good. Our country cannot be truly understood if we do not understand what has happened and is happening in Sicily: what happens in Sicily and Palermo not only affects the island but the entire nation. «There are many people killed in Sicily by the mafia and it was necessary to choose a significant itinerary – explain Luigi Ferraiuolo, Melissa Bonafiglia, Vincenzo Capuano and Nunzia Tramparulo, leading the Lèp patrol – We focused our attention on Palermo because we think it is the epicenter of the mafia phenomenon and because we believe that many of the people killed by Cosa Nostra are not just victims but martyrs of the mafia, people killed for their virtues».
Lèp will participate in the celebrations to remember Paolo Borsellino but it will also organize its own meetings with some witnesses to delve deeper into the Palermo environment of those years and understand what the mafia phenomenon was and is. Lèp will move through the Sicilian streets, meeting the journalist Salvo Palazzolo, the former mayor and MEP Leoluca Orlando, the president of the Acli of Palermo Francesco Todaro, Maurizio Artale, president of Casa don Pino Puglisi, the journalist Elvira Terranova, Piersanti Mattarella’s collaborators Mommo Giuliana and Rino La Placa.
«Paolo Borsellino, whose anniversary is July 19th, Giovanni Falcone and their escorts – underline Melissa Bonafiglia and Vincenzo Capuano, national coordinators of Lèp; together with Luigi Ferraiuolo and Nunzia Tramparulo of the School of Civic Action – but also with Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Don Pino Puglisi, Piersanti Mattarella, they are models who inspire Lèp’s path and on this journey we will retrace their footsteps. People who did their duty, who did not want to become martyrs and who were not afraid.”
Very important for Lèp will be to rediscover the figure of Piersanti Mattarellafor example, of which many aspects of the murder are still mysterious: a political martyr who was a nuisance to Cosa Nostra and also to the national scene, so he was eliminated. «In a time in which mafia issues are less popular with the general public and the mainstream media – adds Ferraiuolo – we thought like Lèp that we needed to return and insist on the topic again: for a Movement that has a School of Civic Action and wants to be a driving force for political commitment, the mafias are always in first place in the ranking of attention». During the two days there will be a series of meetings and visits to the places of the martyrs. Among others, in addition to the official celebrations for Paolo Borsellino, a visit to Don Pino’s house to learn about the spirituality and life of the extraordinary priest from Brancaccio. An in-depth study on Piersanti Mattarella, former president of the Sicily Region, killed by the mafia in 1980, whose killers are still unknown, an extraordinary figure of a politician, like Aldo Moro.
The visit to MuSt23, the Capaci Museum on the massacre of 23 May 1992, animated by young volunteers and to the ACLI of Palermo. The latest in-depth analysis is on Paolo Borsellino. Lèp will try to get to know his person better through participation in official ceremonies and loved ones. Among the various events there was also the presentation of two Lèp awards to Leoluca Orlando and Francesco Deliziosi for welcoming the first pilgrimage last year. The two-day event is scheduled for Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July from 9am on Saturday to 6pm on Sunday. Lèp, Civic Action Movement, was born from former students of Polity Design, the school of relationship design in Caserta.
