CARITAS ORGANISES A WEEK OF SOLIDARITY IN ROME

VATICAN CITY, 11 OCT 2011 (VIS) - This week diocesan Caritas in Rome will celebrate a series of initiatives under the title of "Capitale solidale". The aim is "to analyse difficulties, discern changes, share experiences and create a network of relationships between people for the common good" in the diocese of which the Pope is bishop.

Over the course of the week a number of places symbolic of solidarity, such as Caritas canteens and shelters, will host lectures, roundtable discussions, book presentations, concerts, theatrical performances, exhibitions, etc. "A series of events addressed at different sectors of the public with the aim of spreading a culture of solidarity in which concern for those in greatest need is real and authentic", according to a communique from Msgr. Enrico Feroci, director of Caritas in Rome.

"The theme chosen this year is 'Faces and Narratives from a United City' and the participants will be the users of Caritas centres, volunteers, social workers and service providers. The intention is to make people aware of the daily efforts of solidarity made by thousands of people, efforts which often pass unobserved, precisely because they are 'ordinary' in their extraordinariness", Msgr. Feroci says.

Today at the Caritas centre of Villa Glori a discussion will be held on the "rights of refugees and of people under international protection", while tomorrow a photographic exhibition entitled "The Face and Gaze of the Poor" will be inaugurated at the Capitol, dedicated to Fr. Luigi Di Liegro, founder of Roman Caritas. A Mass for Fr. Di Liegro will be celebrated at 6 p.m. this evening in the Roman basilica of the Holy Apostles. On Thursday 13 October, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, will preside at a missionary vigil in the basilica of St. John Lateran.

On Friday 14 October, the headquarters of Rome's provincial administration will host a discussion entitled: "From Problems to People: encountering man in order to reanimate politics; possible routes to a shared society". Among the participants will be Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and Claudio Cecchini, provincial councillor for social policies, the family and institutional relations. On the afternoon of Saturday 15 October, young people from the diocese of Rome will meet with the Pope in St. Peter's Square. The week will end on Sunday 16 October with a meeting to be held at the Caritas centre of Santa Giacinta, under the title: "Recount and Resist. This unknown territory, voices and narratives from a united city", followed by a performance entitled: "Voices and Music for an Evening of Solidarity".
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