ROME, OCT. 6, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, which ordinarily takes place annually in Rimini, Italy, will be organized in a similar way in Egypt.
The event, which is sponsored by the Catholic lay Communion and Liberation Movement, will have its two-day Egypt edition Oct. 28-29 and will focus on the theme: «Beauty: Space of Dialogue.»
In statements to ZENIT, regional director of Communion and Liberation, Ambrogio Pisoni, also pastoral assistant of the Catholic University of Milan, explained how this initiative came about.
The idea of taking the meeting to Egypt was that of Wael Farouq, a member of Cairo’s American University.
Farouq «visited the Rimini meeting first alone and then, last year, with three friends, among them a lady who at present holds the office of vice president of the Egyptian Constitutional Court,» Pisoni explained.
He noted, «Taking part in it, as guests, they were impressed, to the point of beginning to think of the way it could also be made known in their country.»
In regard to the question about how this event might help in dialogue with Muslims, Pisoni clarified that the meeting «does not set itself particular objectives,» as «it was born unexpectedly and will continue in the same way.»
«For us it is important to remain faithful to the friendship born with these persons,» he said. «We’ll see what surprises come to light: We will decide together how to proceed afterward .»
Encounter
Moreover, Pisoni affirmed, «for us dialogue is not the object of discussions: The Christian method is that of encounter. What happens always surpasses our forecasts.»
He underlined the fact that the works of Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, are beginning to be translated into Arabic.
Pisoni explained that after the publication in Arabic of «The Religious Sense,» both in Jerusalem and Cairo, another volume of Giussani has recently been published in that language, «At the Origin of the Christian Claim.» Moreover, the translation of a third work, «Why the Church,» is under way.
The Egypt event is also being promoted by the Rimini Meeting Foundation, the Ta’Wassul Cultural Center of Cairo and the Sakakini Cultural Center of Alexandria.
According to its promoters, «the beauty of reality is an event that can create in every man a space for dialogue.»
The meeting will include debates, an exhibition and several shows. Four ministers of the Egyptian government will give interventions.
[With the contribution of Antonio Gaspari]
