RIMINI, Italy, AUG. 25, 2002 (Zenit.org).- If the 23rd Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples tried to impress one idea on its 600,000 participants, it was this: Beauty is necessary for everyone.
The weeklong meeting which ended Saturday was organized by the Communion and Liberation movement.
At the end of the event, whose theme was «The Feeling of Things: The Contemplation of Beauty,» Giancarlo Cesana of Communion and Liberation’s Italian Council explained that, above all, «we have tried to communicate a message: that beauty exists and that it is necessary for all.»
Beauty communicates truth and vice versa, even when it entails man’s pain, Cesana said in statements to the press.
The meeting ended with a videoconference address by Communion and Liberation’s founder, Monsignor Luigi Giussani.
In an emotional voice, the Italian priest reflected on a poem by Dante Alighieri on the Virgin Mary, «Daughter of Your Son, Hope for Every Man.»
«I wish that this hope will give you every morning the immediate meaning of your life,» Monsignor Giussani said.
The event included 131 meetings and conferences, 23 performances, 16 art exhibitions, and several sports meetings. Politicians in attendance including Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, and Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister.
The next Communion and Liberation meeting will be held in this coastal city from Aug. 24-30, 2003.
Communion and Liberation is an ecclesial movement whose purpose is to educate its adherents in Christian maturity and collaboration in the mission of the Church in all spheres of contemporary life. The movement is present in about 70 countries. More details are at www.clonline.org.
