Vatican City, Apr 25, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Representatives of the National Association of Italian Municipalities met with the Holy Father today to celebrate the centenary of Giorgio La Pira. La Pira was a man who worked “for the cause of fraternal existence among nations” and was “an eminent figure in politics, culture and spirituality of the last century,” said the Pope.
“Before the leaders of the world,” said the Holy Father, Giorgio La Pira “set forth with firmness his ideas as a believer and as a man who loved peace, inviting his interlocutors to a common effort to promote this basic good in various spheres: in society, politics, the economy, cultures and among religions.”
The Holy Father quoted from a letter that La Pira had written in 1964, to the then Italian Prime Minister, which sums up the responisbilities and mission of those in political office: ‘Politicians are civil guides to whom the Lord entrusts, through the changing technologies of the times, the mandate to lead peoples towards peace, unity, and the spiritual and civil promotion of each people and of everyone together’.” John Paul II urged the representatives to follow La Pira’s example and “place yourselves generously at the service of your communities.”
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