A day on the theme “The poor as the Church treasure: Orthodox and Catholic on the way of charity” took place yesterday in the Community of Sant’Egidio Meeting Hall, in Rome.
A large and interested audience – that filled up not only the meeting hall but also the next video-connected rooms – followed the meeting, that has given voice to different Christian traditions on a theme that is a constituent element of the Christian identity and one of the factors of unity of the Church.
“As Christian of different traditions we are already united by the love for the poor” claimed Andrea Riccardi, stressing how this love is an answer to the profound present questions of the human kind.
“We are facing a hard time. Many people are suffering in the rich countries, as the economic crisis is increasing the poverty. These are not only happy days. In the southern part of the world, in the poorest countries, so many people are suffering. The solidarity is decreasing, in the market, because of economic crisis and competition…The problem is no more defending the poor, but to defend ourselves from the poor. Yes, to defend ourselves from the poor! When economics becomes a criterion among the society, the poor are worthless…That’s why the poor become invisible. The elderly (a longer life is a great gift, to increase life expectancy realizes a centuries-old dream) are driven out of families and die alone, in hospices, not seen. Sick, imprisoned, far from our sight. The beggars are banished from the city centers, because they uglify the environment. The poor don’t make headlines. The media soon forget the poverty: this is the case of Haiti, soon forgotten after the media huge regard of the first days after the terrible heartquake.”
The same concern was expressed by metropolitan Filaret of Minsk, Moscow Patriarchate.
He stated how charity has flourished again in eastern churches after sovietic regime, but at the same time noticed that: “In contemporary societies, words like «charity» and «beneficence» are gradually disappearing from spoken language and seem quite obsolete.”
Along the day many eastern and western voices joined the reflections. We publish above some pictures of them.
Gallery (first session) 
Gallery (second session)
h 9.30 am
CHARITY AS SPIRITUAL FUNDAMENTAL OF THE FUTURE
Chairman
Vincenzo Paglia
Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia
Charity: theology and life of Orthodox Churches
Filaret
Metropolitan of Minsk and Sluck, patriarchal Exharc of Belarus, Moscow Patriarchate
Charity: a vision for the XXI century Christianity
Andrea Riccardi
Founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio
Charity in the Catholic Church vision
Roger Etchegaray
Cardinal, Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals
Coffee Break |
h 11.30 am
WHO LOVES GOD, LOVES THE POOR
Chairman
Filaret
Metropolitan of Minsk and Sluck, patriarchal Exharc of Belarus, Moscow Patriarchate
God loves the poor: Word of God and charity
Ambrogio Spreafico
Bishop of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino
Eucharistic sacrament, sacrament of the poor: liturgy and charity
Antonij
Archbishop of Borispol’, Rector of Theological Academy of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Church
Two great bishop and the poverty: Basilium of Cesarea and Gregorium Magnum
Innocenzo Gargano
Prior of San Gregorio al Celio Monastery in Rome
Monasticism and the poor
Iosif
Metropolitan of eastern and southern Europe, Romanian Patriarchate |
h 3.30 pm
THE CHARITY ROAD
Chairman
Vittorio Ianari
Community of Sant’Egidio
The saints, friends of the poor
Laurenţiu
Archbishop of Sibiu and Metropolitan of Ardeal, Romanian Patriarchate
The poor as our brothers: the Community of Sant’Egidio life
Maria Cristina Marazzi
Community of Sant’Egidio
Church, city, poor: history of alliance
Vincenzo Paglia
Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia
Fathers and the poor
Zoran Nedeljkovic
Director of the Serbian Patriarchate Library
Coffee Break |
h 5.30 pm
LIVING CHARITY IN THE CITY
Chairman
Marco Impagliazzo
President of the Community of Sant’Egidio
The Church and the new poverties: an opinion from Moscow
Arkadij Šatov
President of the Synodal department for charity and social aid, Moscow Patriarchate
Reading the city beginning from the poor
Marco Gnavi
Community of Sant’Egidio
The social condition in new Russia
Werner Gumpel
University of Munich
The Church and the new poverties: an opinion from Bucharest
Nicolae Dima
Patriarchal councillor, Romanian Patriarchate
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