EUROPE/ITALY - S. Egidio Community marks 36th anniversary of its foundation: Cardinal Ruini presides special Mass of Thanksgiving

Thursday, 5 February 2004

Rome (Fides Service) – The S. Egidio Community founded in Rome in February 1968, today has about circa 50,000 volunteer members in 63 different countries. On February 5 a solemn Mass of thanksgiving to mark its 36th anniversary was presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s vicar for Rome diocese, at Rome’s Cathedral church of St John in the Lateran. One of the most recent initiatives of the S. Egidio Community was a proposal to the Italian parliament to grant citizenship to babies born in Italy of immigrant parents and a nation wide campaign to provide more and better home services for the elderly.
With regard to the rest of the world in the past twelve months S. Egidio focussed its attention mainly on consolidating peace processes in Ivory Coast and Liberia, besides promoting its own DREAM programme for the treatment of HIV/AIDS sufferers, second in the world for scope and with the best results. 2003 was also a year of commitment to promote respect for human rights, care for disabled persons, homeless people on the streets, prison inmates, men and women awaiting execution. Over the past twelve months S. Egidio’s campaign to abolish capital punishment and promote a universal suspension of death sentences reached the mark of 5 million signatures creating a network of 120 major world cities in favour of the abolition of the death penalty and a world wide suspension of executions. In 2003 S. Egidio also promoted the ecumenical and interreligious events for which it is renowned to prevent the feared ‘clash of civilisations’ and ‘promote dialogue’. (S.L.) (Fides Service 5/2/2004; lines 21 - words 267)


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