Sit is entitled 'Letter to men and women with hands dirty with the gospel', which he compares to "karst rivers", the written thanks that the archbishop of Naples, Don Mimmo Battaglia, makes to anyone, within the Neapolitan Church, but also within its perimeter, who opposes the Camorra every day.
“A hidden and silent story, not at all flashy, barely visible to the eyes of men and the spotlights of cameras”, “minimal and tenacious, discreet and courageous” that of a Church that “daily looks the Camorra in the face, straight in the eyes and without bending its back”.
His 'thank you' is for those priests "who in certain territories where the only law seems to be that of oppression and violence have made their parishes credible and authoritative outposts in defense of human dignity. Priests who do not retreat even an inch in the face of the cloak of silence of mafia sovereignty and propose as an alternative the subversive logic of common spaces to be recovered to the beauty of being together, because the tendency to isolation fueled by fear of the Camorra can only be overcome with the taste of sharing and community building".
The denunciation, the prelate recalls, "is the other side of the announcement". Then there are "men and women religious who do not limit themselves to waiting for the return of the prodigal son, but follow him, follow his steps, give him no respite in reminding him of the waste he is making of his life, and often transform the prison cell of punishment into a crossroads of torment and hope".
“Men and women of the gospel are also forced to often swallow the bitter pills of misunderstanding and insult because those who are urged to question their existence made of blood and death rebel, do not accept and do not swallow the clear and therefore harsh words of those who, without hesitation and diplomacy, remind them that they have sold their soul to the devil”, he adds.
“I know that these silent and anonymous stories do not at all attenuate the noisy responsibility for the silence of many men of the Church in the face of the arrogance and bullying of the Camorra – writes Don Mimmo – I do not want to deny the embarrassing attempt of a certain ecclesiastical thought to diminish and minimize this problem with the usual affirmation that evangelization cannot be flattened by the fight against the mafia, and far be it from me to try to propose the holy pictures of committed priests, or even of those who have lost their lives like Don Peppe Diana, as bloody screens to be shown when necessary”.
“I simply feel the duty to give credit and honor to those priests and religious who silently live their ministry embodying the gospel of 'yes yes, no no' (Mt 5,37:XNUMX) – he explains – that gospel that does not make you compromise with anyone, that makes you biased because you have chosen to side with the weakest claiming for them those sacrosanct rights that the mafia and the powerful transform instead into favors to beg for, that gospel that invites you to get your hands dirty because if you dream of a just world and a society free from the mafia you cannot keep those hands in your pockets. And I know many priests with hands dirty with the gospel! That is why I took up pen and paper. To say thank you”.
But also "to ask you to spur me on if you should notice my excessive caution in the face of the innocent tears of mafia arrogance and to transmit to me your 'parrhesia' if I too should sometimes turn away, and to accompany and support the steps of those brothers of ours who often continue to prefer neutrality to prophecy and reassuring silence to the uncomfortable cry for freedom that comes from the Gospel".
The letter also includes a 'thank you' to those who "regardless of your role in the church and in society or even of the faith you belong to, walk every day with your head held high and without fear the path of justice, denunciation, solidarity, without great proclamations but with small and daily actions that, drop by drop, dig new spaces and possibilities for rebirth among the debris left here and there by the mafias", and to those who urge the Church "to be ever more faithful to the Gospel, criticizing what in it is still imbued with neutrality and fear.
. And in saying thank you I also ask you to walk together, not to leave us alone, to take us by the hand, overcoming barriers and mistrust to serve together the cause of justice, of good, of a civilization founded on love”.
Article published on 27 January 2022 - 19:53
