2,700 participants, including representatives of the dioceses (bishops and delegates), special delegates (Italians abroad, immigrants, missionaries), delegates of the national organizations of institutes of consecrated life and of national associations, guests, experts, rapporteurs and animators of workgroups: that’s the “people” of the 4th Ecclesial Meeting of the Italian Church, due to be held in Verona, from 16 to 20 October, on the theme: “ Witnesses of the Risen Jesus, hope of the world”. It’s a Meeting “already in progress”, said Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan and President of the preparatory committee, on presenting it to journalists during the 56th general Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, held in the Vatican in recent days (www.chiesacattolica.it). The Meeting will begin on 16 October, at 4.00 pm, with the opening procession and liturgical celebration, followed by the speeches of local representatives of other religions (in the role as guests, not delegates). But the culminating moment will be the meeting with the Pope on 19 October, with a speech in the morning and a eucharistic concelebration in the afternoon, at 4.00 pm, in the civic stadium. On meeting the bishops gathered in their recent Assembly, Benedict XVI said that the Verona Meeting “will be a great moment of communion for all the components of the Church in Italy”, in which “it will be possible to review the course followed by the Church in recent years and especially to look ahead, to tackle together the fundamental task of maintaining alive the great Christian tradition that is the principal richness of Italy”.
