Religions for peace: a forum at Palazzo Chigi that looks to Africa remembering Cabral
ROME – “Peace is allergic to univocal language and requires the plural” says Filomeno Lopes, journalist and writer, now author of “Amilcar Cabral for Castelvecchi. A bridge between Italy and Africa”. His reflection starts from the independence and pan-Africanist leader, like him originally from Guinea Bissau. Testimony in the life and encounters of a […]
ROME – “Peace is allergic to univocal language and requires the plural” says Filomeno Lopes, journalist and writer, now author for Castelvecchi of “Amilcar Cabral. A bridge between Italy and Africa”. His reflection starts from the independence and pan-Africanist leader, like him originally from Guinea Bissau. Testimony in life and in meetings of possible cooperation and sharing between Africa and Europe. It is being discussed at Palazzo Chigi, about Cabral, assassinated in 1973, three years after being received in a private audience by Pope Paul VI. The occasion is the Second forum on religious freedom, an event promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The meeting is held in the Green Room, a few meters from an antechamber with damask wallpaper, on the walls are photos of all the former Prime Ministers from the unification of Italy to today. The gaze is turned to the South, to Cabral’s Africa, albeit in new times, those of the alliance promised with the continent still in Rome, with the Mattei Plan.
FILOMENO LOPES: LEARNING FROM CABRAL, IT WAS PONTE ITALY- AFRICA
The Mattei Plan does not ignore historical teachings and experiences, starting from that of Amilcar Cabral, “bridge between Italy and Africa”: this is the appeal of Filomeno Lopes, journalist of Vatican Radio and author originally from Guinea Bissau like the independence leader, assassinated in 1973. The occasion for reflection was the Second forum on religious freedom, hosted at Palazzo Chigi. Lopes has just published a book for Castelvecchi entitled ‘Amilcar Cabral. A bridge between Italy and Africa’. Part of its reconstruction is the ties established in Rome and Milan by the pro-independence leader with leading figures in politics and local civil society. According to Lopes, Cabral in the sixties and seventies of the last century was “the first” to build a connection across the Mediterranean, which from Rome led in particular to the countries that were then Portuguese colonies, such as Angola, Mozambique or Sao Tome and Principe< /strong>. Then the reference to the Mattei Plan, the initiative of Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government which promises to build an alliance with Africa on an “equal” and not “predatory” basis. “There’s a lot of talk about it today,” Lopes underlines. “However, it is good to return to history, realizing that there is already something from which to start to improve the future.”
RUFFINI (HOLY SEE): WITH THE NEGOTIATION PEACE IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE
“Peace is always possible”, with negotiation and diplomacy; and also with the contribution of faith, “which when not contaminated by fanaticism is part of the solution and not a problem”: words of Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery of Communication of the Holy See. The occasion for reflection is the Second Forum on Religious Freedom, hosted in the Green Room at Palazzo Chigi. Ruffini made an appeal regarding what Pope Francis has repeatedly defined as a “piecemeal world war”. “While expenditure on armaments increases, we find ourselves with cold statistics on the number of deaths, with budgets that we risk defining as tragic without truly feeling personally involved” denounced the prefect. “It’s as if we were dealing with ‘war games’ and as if we could calmly wait for the ‘game over'”.
Ruffini quoted Francesco again: “Have perseverance in dialogue and in always defending the possibility of negotiation, without believing never in the force of violence”.
MONDA: L’OBSERVATO ROMANO IS A MILITANT FOR PEACE< /strong>
“Today, as then, the Church is on the side of the peoples and countries that suffer”: said Andrea Monda, director of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, opening the work of the Second Forum on Religious Freedom at Palazzo Chigi. The journalist recalled Pope Paul VI’s appeal addressed to Rome in 1970 to Amilcar Cabral and other pro-independence leaders of the countries that were then Portuguese colonies of Africa. “As soon as possible, fight with peaceful means” said Monda, quoting the words spoken by the pontiff. In the foreground of his speech, together with the theme of religious freedom, is that of the dialogue and negotiation necessary in the world. “The newspaper I have been directing for a few years is militant for peace” said Monda. “Today we must be militants for peace”.
IMPAGLIAZZO (SANT’EGIDIO): EUROPE-AFRICA SAVES THEMSELVES ONLY TOGETHER
“Shared responsibility” between European and African countries: it begins with these words, Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio, in a comment for the Dire agency on the ongoing debate in Portugal on the opportunity of reparations for the abuses and violence of colonialism. The issue, that of cooperation and exchange, is at the center of the Forum on religious freedom hosted at Palazzo Chigi. Last Sunday, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said his country should “pay the costs” of the transatlantic trade and colonial abuses. “There is a theme of general responsibility to be shared between European and African countries, certainly starting from the apologies for the colonialism of the past” Impagliazzo prefaces. “But we must also look to the future and we must look at this future together.”
The president of the Community again: “As we learned during the very serious Covid-19 pandemic, we can only be saved together; Europe and Africa can only be saved together”. At the center of the Forum on religious freedom in particular are the relations between Italy and the former colonies of Portugal. A guide during the confrontation is Filomeno Lopes, a journalist originally from Guinea Bissau, now the author for Castelvecchi of a book dedicated to Amilcar Cabral, an independence and pan-Africanist leader also linked to Italy, assassinated in 1973.
DIONISI (FARNESINA): FOR ITALY THE FAITHS ARE INSTRUMENT OF PEACE
“Where diplomacy does not reach, faiths can reach” says Davide Dionisi,special envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperationfor the promotion of religious freedom and the protection of minorities in the world . His words were spoken on the sidelines of a forum hosted in the Green Room of Palazzo Chigi. On the walls of the antechamber, beyond the damask wallpaper, there are photos of all the former Prime Ministers from the unification of Italy to today. And Dionisi, in an interview with the Dire agency, starts again from history, recent and less recent. Without forgetting geography. “Today’s Forum on religious freedom wants to talk about a diplomacy of peace that is typically Italian”, the premise. “Our country has the duty to support any virtuous path of peace, for two reasons: the first is geographical, because diplomacy unfolds through geography and Italy is at the center of the Mediterranean, between east and west, a bridge towards the South of the world and at the same time Europe; the second is that it has a history and a vocation for peace”. During the forum, we talk about impevious paths. “Unfortunately, sometimes diplomacy does not achieve its objectives quickly because there are many problems and obstacles arise”, underlines Dionisi. “And it is here that Italian diplomacy leverages the invaluable contribution of religions: because where diplomacy does not reach, faiths can dialogue and start a virtuous circle”.
According to the special correspondent, more than “inter-ecclesiastical schemes”, what is of interest is “a way of approaching those who are in conflict and those who fuel hatred”. Starting from Africa, the continent at the center of the Mattei Plan attempt, a multicultural and political kaleidoscope highlighted at the Forum on religious freedom.
