Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – On the occasion of the Pauline Year, the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) has drawn up an entire schedule for the year, for all the local Churches, that offers a new and intelligent way to live this important event. The event calendar is available online (at www.progettoculturale.it) and has a full schedule of events, beginning with a poetic musical entitled “The flame of Paul’s charity,” which will be held in Rome on June 20. The work was composed by Christian Carrara and Davide Vencejos and will later be shown in other dioceses and cities in Italy. During the press conference where it was presented, Fr. Domenico Pompili, Director of the National Social Communications Office of the CEI said that there is always a renewed interest in St. Paul in certain historical moments: “in this manner, modern man can discover a great interest in Paul, for the issues that affect him personally: man’s destiny, sin, faith and salvation, the dramatic analysis of one’s own conscience, the weakness of the will, the disastrous rhythm that is seen throughout history.”
Dr. Vittorio Sozzim, the head of the CEI’s National Service for Cultural Planning, told Fides the reasons why they chose the cultural dimension in the effort to rediscover the Apostle to the Gentiles. “When the Holy Father announced the Pauline Year, we saw it as an opportunity, after eleven years of planning and we saw the need to live this event as an opportunity to recognize the cultural depth of Saint Paul, the apostle that spoke to the contemporary culture outside the Hebrew world.”
Among the events planned are a Bible Study-Activity Week from July 6-11 in Capo Rizzuto, entitled: “Paul: strategy of preaching. Portrait of communication with deep impact.” Saint Paul was an extraordinary communicator of the Christian message and there is still so much he can teach us. “At a moment when everything is “light,” the Christian must learn that there is a priority. Saint Paul puts Christ above everything else, and helps his contemporaries to find their own existence in Christ’s existence,” Dr. Sozzi said. “For the Christian of today, for the person who wants reasons for his faith, I think that the example of Saint Paul’s testimony can lead us to realize that not every belief is a valid as the next, but that there are priorities.” One of the main ideas of the project is a website dedicated to St. Paul’s Letters, in order to get to know the Apostle through his correspondence. The site is especially geared towards the youth, the world’s main Internet users. (PC) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2008)
