Benevento. One year after their first meeting, more than thirty Bishops will meet again on August 30th and 31st in Benevento, at the “La Pace” Center, to delve deeper into the reflection on the “Internal Areas”, that is, those areas of southern and northern Italy in the throes of depopulation, threatened by a decline that seems unstoppable.
“The progressive metropolisation of the Italian population is causing the slow death of entire territories, with serious damage for the entire country”, says Monsignor Felice Accrocca, Archbishop of Benevento, who initiated the Conference. Prelates from twelve regions will participate: Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, Basilicata, Puglia, Campania, Molise, Abruzzo, Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont.
“When a part of the territory is abandoned,” explains the Archbishop, “the entire nation suffers detriment, because a territory not protected by man will be subjected to greater pressure from the forces of nature, with the risk of new and increased environmental disasters, and it will not be possible to avoid the loss of part of that immense artistic and architectural heritage that makes the whole of Italy an open-air museum.”
Thus, in the wake of a journey begun in May 2019 and continued with various initiatives, in constant dialogue with the institutions, the Bishops will try to focus on the contribution that the ecclesial communities can offer to the project of relaunching the "Internal Areas", starting from the development of an ad hoc pastoral care for these territories.
What word of hope, that is, should be brought to lands that seem affected by a desire to escape, with towns that continue to lose their youngest inhabitants, where there are almost no shops left and where schools, post offices and other essential services have long closed their doors? The work will open on August 30, at 11:16, with an introduction by Monsignor Giuseppe Baturi, Archbishop of Cagliari and Secretary General of the CEI. At XNUMX:XNUMX, a report by Monsignor Mariano Crociata, Bishop of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, is scheduled on the theme: “A pastoral care for the internal areas: food for thought”.
The morning of August 31, dedicated like the afternoon of the previous day to discussion in groups and in plenary, will conclude with the speech of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the CEI. “There is a need for political and pastoral intelligence to revive places where life risks ending and where – paradoxically – it can instead assume a superior quality”, notes Msgr. Accrocca for whom “it is here, where life does not want to die, that the future of the nation is played out and it is here that the Gospel must be announced on a human and territorial scale”.
Article published on 25 August 2022 - 14:30
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