ICardinal Crescenzio Sepe joins “Friendly Fire”, the response of the world of associations, schools and culture to the latest serious acts of devastation and intimidation by youth gangs that have hit the headquarters of the Catholic Youth Association (Assogioca) in the Mercato district.
The number of participants in the demonstration on Friday, November 29, promoted by Assogioca, the Trianon Viviani theater and the Campo del Moricino del Mercato and Adelaide Ristori di Forcella comprehensive institutes is still increasing: at the moment there are more than sixty associations, schools, unions and foundations that will participate with the Second Municipality (Mercato – Pendino). They are joined by that of the metropolitan archbishop, who, in a long letter to Gianfranco Wurzburger, president of Assogioca, expresses "great appreciation for the initiative that, far from being an event of protest and condemnation towards those who practice wrong and delinquent behavior, wants to indicate, on the contrary, the path of well-being and civil coexistence, assuming a conciliatory, formative, serene and exemplary connotation".
“It is truly edifying, encouraging and significant the adhesion and sharing of so many associative, educational and social realities that have chosen to form a single body not “against” but “for” – continues the prelate –, to recover children, young people, to tell them that the future is not the impossible one, that they have sought in a clumsy and misleading way, but it is the one that is built with commitment, with study, with confrontation, with genius, with emerging from solitude and rottenness to build the common good”.
“I greatly appreciate the work and efforts that you at Assogioca make and I express equal appreciation for the many Organizations, Institutions, Schools that have chosen to take to the streets with you – continues Cardinal Sepe –, to stand by your side to demonstrate that good exists and is the majority, that together we can bring about change, saying and demonstrating that an alternative to the streets exists and that in Naples there are not only baby gangs and that no child should be considered lost”.
The appointment of Fuoco amico – the title was created by the director Davide Iodice – will begin at 10, in the Trianon Viviani theater, with a public assembly that will discuss the monitoring of youth distress and the need for shared responses to episodes of deviance. A solidarity procession will follow from Piazza Vincenzo Calenda to Piazza Mercato, where, in front of the burned door of Assogioca, the students of the Forcella and Mercato schools will symbolically burn their negative thoughts.
A bastion of legality in a place where crime is trying to make headway, Assogioca takes care of minors at risk. Its headquarters, owned by the municipality, was grazed by an arson attack on adjacent premises on October 22nd; then further damaged and robbed on November 9th by a self-styled “Baby Camorra”. Again on November 14th, some kids, armed with air pistols and wearing hoods, spread panic among passers-by outside.
Article published on November 26, 2019 - 17:25
