The Pope among young people at the Rimini Meeting: freeing technology and finance from the ‘businesses of death’
The Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, recalled that the Constitution is underpinned by ‘constant dialogue in the service of peace, human dignity and the common good’. Leo XIV: ‘No to political projects that are slaves to idols’
Key points
‘Let us therefore free our coexistence from suspicion, culture from arrogance, education from ideology, work from the idolatry of profit, and technology and finance from the business of death.’ This is one of the passages from the speech delivered by Pope Leo from the stage at the Rimini Meeting. “Starting with the organisations we have created and within which we operate,” the Pontiff continued, “let us expose the unjust power structures that lie at the root of poverty and inequality, of war and environmental disasters. Let us rein in technological development when it becomes pervasive and destructive. We need courageous pioneers who, by changing their own course, can make the conversion required of us all convincing and credible.”
Pope: the importance of young people for peace
‘If we all want to change the world, let us begin with ourselves,’ says St Augustine. ‘Your heart, our heart – which is so vast, so capable of love – must never be closed off. Let us all seek the path to walk together, to build a world of peace and love. Continue on this wonderful journey, live always with this enthusiasm, and you will see that we can truly build a world of peace and love.’ During his visit to the Rimini Meeting (which saw a record attendance of 60,000 people), Pope Leo paused several times to speak (off the cuff) with the faithful who had gathered at the event. “Thank you for this welcome, for this enthusiasm,” said the Pontiff, addressing the younger people in particular: “If there is to be communion in the world, it begins with you young people, because you know how to build communion through friendship; you know how to respect one another in order to build peace. And the world needs you, your enthusiasm and your charity.”
The Pope to CL: let us expose unjust power structures
The Pope has appealed to the Meeting to help build a new model of society: ‘Let us free our coexistence from suspicion, our culture from arrogance, our education from ideology, our work from the idolatry of profit, and technology and finance from the business of death. Let us unmask unjust power structures, which lie at the root of poverty and inequality, of war and environmental disasters. Let us rein in technological development when it becomes pervasive and destructive. We need courageous pioneers who, by changing their own course, can make the transformation required of us all convincing and credible.”
Pope: in some sectors of the Church, the gift of listening has been lost
‘In recent years we have rediscovered the synodal and missionary dimension of our being the Church, which calls us first and foremost to learn to listen to one another. The gift of listening is something which, I believe, we all recognise, but which has often been lost in certain sectors of the Church. We must continue to discover just how precious it is, starting with listening to the Word of God, listening to one another, and listening to the wisdom we find in men and women, in members of the Church and in those who are seeking the truth, but who are not yet – and perhaps will never be – members of the Church.” Pope Leo XIV said this in his address at the 47th Meeting for Friendship amongst Peoples in the Grand Auditorium at the Rimini Exhibition Centre.
Pope: no to the rearmament of words and nations; there can be no enemies
‘Following Jesus Christ in the wake of the tragedies and new beginnings of the 20th century requires a clear realisation: evil cannot be fought with evil.’ The Pope addresses the members of CL gathered in Rimini for the Meeting, which had not been attended by a Pope for forty-four years. “As in heaven, so on earth, love is the law of life, the method of redemption, of the crucified Messiah. ‘Against false realism, which rearms minds, words and nations,’ says Prevost, ‘Catholic culture must today oppose the realism of mercy, according to which there can be no enemies and everyone—even adversaries—are brothers and sisters to be looked in the eye and encountered in truth.’ A passage that drew loud applause from the members of Comunione e Liberazione. ‘Sin exists, of course, but stronger still,’ he observes, ‘is the redeeming love of Christ, which commits us to purifying our thoughts, interests, habits, associations, plans and investments – every aspect of life – from everything that the culture of power has polluted.’
