EUROPE/ITALY - 25 years after his death Father Lombardi’s programme is still valid: to bring the Gospel message to all people so that everyone will rise up and rediscover his or her role in the Church and in society

Monday, 13 December 2004

Rome (Fides Service) - Twenty five years ago on 14 December, 1979, at Rocca di Papa, (Rome) Jesuit Father Riccardo Lombardi protagonist of one of the most intense pages in the history of the Church in the 20th century passed away. The event will be commemorated all over the world with Masses organised by the Community Animation Service of Mondo Migliore which has carried forward the priest’s programme since his death.
Born in Naples on March 28, 1908 of a Piedmont family Riccardo entered the Society of Jesus at a very young age. In 1938 he was charged with preaching conversion, personal and collective in universities and public squares. He uses the radio for this purpose at a particularly critical time in the history of Italy: between elections of the Constituent in 1946 and political elections in 1948. The most famous of Father Lombardi’s preaching "Crusade of Goodness", took form in 1948. The purpose was to announce to Italy on its knees after the war and profoundly divided, the need for love and reconciliation as a presupposition for building a new civilisation centred on Jesus rather than ruthless totalitarian regimes. Pope Pius XII, informed of the priest’s activity, pronounced a famous address in February 1952 for a “better world” indicating Father Lombardi as an element of reference for a programme to renew the Church and society.
The priest’s activity led him to form a Community Animation Group present today in Italy and some thirty other countries with about 600 members (6 bishops, 157 diocesan priests, 30 religious priests, 3 permanent deacons, 57 women Religious, 1 Brother and 372 lay persons) who promote various forms of animation including pastoral programmes involving more than 50 million people in about 100 different dioceses all over the world: 8 in Africa involving 3.5 million Catholics, 65 in Latin America involving 36 million Catholics, 8 in Oceania involving about 630,000 Catholics and 7 in Europe. These members are expressions of the different vocations in the Church and each retains their original condition and community whose vocation he or she is called to express in the group.
The basic idea which guided Father Lombardi and continues to guide his spiritual heirs today was to carry the Gospel message to all, to move all to start a systematic journey of research and faith to rediscover their proper role in the Church. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 13/12/2004; righe 28, parole 417)


Share: