A message of solidarity but also – above all – of peace, in this time marked by too many wars and growing poverty. This is the wish that comes from the Christmas lunches of Sant'Egidio, which today – from the first calculations – has managed to seat 80 thousand people in Italy and 250 thousand in the world. Family lunches with the poor, who are friends of the Community throughout the year. A Christmas of hope in a time marked by crises and conflicts in the Holy Land, Ukraine and several other countries, with all their consequences.
Starting at 1pm, the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, the place where this tradition began on 25 December 41 years ago, was filled with homeless people, elderly people, refugees, including some families who arrived in Italy thanks to the humanitarian corridors and welcomed by the community. Among them there are also some who, having been helped, have chosen to help, in turn, those who are in difficulty today. The traditional menu of the party (lasagna, meatloaf, lentils, Christmas sweets) was served at the table with compostable equipment and cutlery and everyone received a personalized gift, as happens in every family.
At the end, the greeting from Don Marco Gnavi, who defined Christmas lunches with the poor as an expression of “a broad heart that excludes no one”. “Impossible things become possible”, underlined the parish priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere, introducing some of the guests, who, thanks to the humanitarian corridors, have managed, in the last year, to save themselves and open up to a new life here in Italy. Among them was a family of Afghans who lived in extreme difficulty in a refugee camp in Pakistan. Or an African couple (he Somali, she Eritrean) who was freed from detention camps in Libya and the Congolese Christian, who no longer had news of his wife, lost in the hard journeys of hope between desert and sea and now found, thanks to humanitarian corridors.
Together with them, many Italians who lived on the streets and who, with the Community, have a home and a family again. Also present in Santa Maria in Trastevere were the councilor for social policies of the Municipality of Rome, Barbara Funari, and the social services of the region, Massimiliano Maselli.
Many initiatives were held (and will also be held in the next few days) in around a hundred Italian cities and around the world (in addition to Europe, Asia, Africa and America), also thanks to the solidarity number 45586 (active until 26 December), at tables where there is confusion between who serves and who is served.
#Sant39Egidio #today #Christmas #lunches #thousand #people #Italy #thousand #world