Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella: this is a time for martyrs

"Given that we make up only one body, the wounds and death of other Christians touch us personally, as if we ourselves were martyred."

Meeting 2008: “I see that the lives of others truly interest you and your religion.”

ZE08083106 - 2008-08-31

Rimini Meeting Not Political, Says Organizer

700,000 Participated in Gathering

RIMINI, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).- What differentiates the annual Rimini Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples from other gatherings is that it's not political, says the event's organizer.

Emilia Guarnieri said this at a press conference Saturday, the last day of the meeting, which is organized by the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation, and held in Rimini.

This year's theme is taken from a phrase from the founder of Communion and Liberation, Monsignor Luigi Giussani: "Either Protagonists or Nobodies."

Emilia Guarnieri described the climate of the gathering with the words of Salih Osman, a member of the Sudanese National Parliament and human rights advocate from Darfur. He said, “I see that the lives of others truly interest you and your religion.”

“He is right,” Guarnieri said. "We are interested in the difference of others,” because, as Monsignor Giussani said, “it is precisely in meeting the difference of others that we delve into the depths of what we are, and are able continually to experience this embrace with others, without which, life would die.”

Guarnieri observed that the annual meeting is not just any meeting because "it is not born of politics."

She announced the theme chosen for next year's meeting, “Knowledge is Always an Event.”

“Knowledge is the fundamental act that the person accomplishes in his relation to reality,” Guarnieri explained.

She continued, “Any gesture of a child is in function of his knowledge. Knowledge is thus the first act that connotes the human person.”

“The word ‘event’ is a big word,” she added, “but we will be able to explore it at the next meeting.”

The gathering attracted 4,000 volunteers and 700,000 participants.

at The Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, Rimini

Burundi "Angel" Tells of Rescuing Children

African Testimonies Impact Rimini Meeting

By Antonio Gaspari

RIMINI, Italy, AUG. 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The hope-filled eyes of children helped the "angel of Burundi" find God in the midst of Burundi's civil war that cost some 200,000 lives over nearly a dozen years.

Marguerite Barankitse was one of three African women who gave their testimonies at the Rimini meeting organized by the Catholic lay Communion and Liberation movement. The annual meeting is under way through Saturday.

Barankitse saved thousand of people, both Hutus and Tutsis, during the country's civil war.

She explained that her humanitarian work began when she took refuge with Hutu and Tutsi children, and Hutu families in the bishop's residence in Ruygi. The residence was attacked and the refugees were killed before her eyes.

"They were my friends; people I wanted to save. They left me alive because I am Tutsi, but they beat me violently as a traitor," she explained.

When the assailants readied to kill the 25 or so children in the house, Barankitse offered them all her money so they would spare them; the assailants accepted.

So began what today is known as the "Shalom Home," in which over these years Barankitse has taken in some 10,000 children. Today many of them are married and are professionals who continue to cooperate with the mission.

Barankitse has been awarded several international prizes for her work, but she said that in Burundi, many call her the "madwoman."

"But I say this is the fruit of love," she said.

Barankitse affirmed that at first, she wondered why the God of love would allow such things.

"I saw in the eyes of children a hope that was not extinguished and began to understand that God was answering me through their gaze," she said.

Fighting AIDS

The other testimonies were given by two Ugandan women -- Rose Busingye and Vicky Aryenyo, founder and collaborator, respectively, of Kampala's International Meeting Point, an institution that cares for AIDS patients and their families, especially orphaned children.

Busingye, a nurse, explained that she found "in the infinite value of people" the strength to oppose so much evil.

"It is the recognition of the other that creates the reality, and that is present in the company of the Church," she said.

Aryenyo, a volunteer at the Meeting Point, said her life changed when she discovered, during her third pregnancy, that she had contracted AIDS from her husband. She said she wanted to die and rejected all help.

"Rose went to find me to help me and to convince me to be healed," Aryenyo said. "I kept rejecting her, until one day she said to me: 'Give me the child, because he has a life ahead.'

"We know that Lazarus is resurrected. If you haven't seen a miracle, it's here, it is me. It all began with a meeting, and this meeting has resurrected my life. In Christ, Rose has given me a person on whom to lean."

Either Protagonists or Nobodies: Meeting 2008, Rimini

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state, sent a message conveying Pope Benedict's support.

1974 division of Cypress one topic discussed at Meeting 2008. Clicking on the speaker icon at the link allows one to listen to this story in a bit more depth.

(25 Aug 08 - RV) The annual Rimini Meeting hosted by the Communion and Liberation Movement began yesterday in the Italian resort city. The 29th edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples has as its theme “Either Protagonists or Nobodies” and seeks to reflect on the concept of the person.

Participants come from around the world for the week-long event, discussing culture, religion, politics – and how they interact. One topic of discussion is the situation on the divided island of Cyprus, where the Turkish third of the island was split off from the Greek majority after Turkey invaded in 1974. Although the Greeks are Orthodox Christian and the Turks are Muslim, Chrysostomos Kykkotis, an Orthodox priest from the island, says religion is not the reason for the conflict.

Sharon gives a report from Milan.

Email me or put more news items in the comments. Thanks!