Brussels – The European Parliament, for the first time, is hosting in its Brussels headquarters an exhibition on Giorgio La Pira: 19 photographic panels set up near the staircase leading to the plenary chamber tell the story of the “Holy Mayor.”
“In this period of disappointment and disenchantment with the quality of public policy and its protagonists, the figure of Giorgio La Pira stands out as an extraordinary and necessary example,” says Beatrice Covassi, Florentine MEP for the PD, who hosted the event.
“With this exhibition, we want to resonate a very topical message, reviving the theme of peace and inter-religious dialogue. With La Pira, Florence became a place of universal dialogue. Representatives of States and peoples, religious leaders, and heads of State arrived at Palazzo Vecchio, going beyond all political-diplomatic borders and barriers,” Covassi said. “It is no coincidence that he inspired the idea that the Mediterranean should not be a sea that divides peoples but the ‘lake of dialogue’ between the three great monotheistic religions, a strategic laboratory for the future. At this time of terrible conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, it is time to dare peace. ‘To dare the impossible,’ as La Pira used to say.”
The exhibition, which opens today with the Italian ambassador to Brussels, Federica Favi, and Marco Luppi of the La Pira Foundation, will end on Friday. It is the second moment of the La Pira week in Brussels, which started with the visit of a delegation of the Mediterranean Youth Council accompanied by Giuseppe Baturi, Archbishop of Cagliari and Secretary General of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and Monsignor Mariano Crociata, president of Comece.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
