"The evangelisation of today’s Italian culture is an effective possibility". In other words, "Italian culture, deeply imbued with Catholicism, can renew itself and venture into the future, not against Catholicism, but, on the contrary, by drawing new lifeblood and inspiration from it". It was said to SIR by card. Camillo Ruini, vicar general of the Pope for the diocese of Rome and newly-appointed president of the Committee for the Cultural Project. In an interview, online at old.agensir.it, the president of the Committee, which was established during the latest Permanent Council of the Italian Bishops Conference (21-24 January), draws a balance of the experience of the cultural project launched in Palermo in 1995, within which, he highlights, the "secondary aim", as opposed to "the primary aim of the evangelisation of culture", but "also essential", is "the presence and impact" of lay people "in the social and political arena". "In the political arena comments Ruini -, as aptly described in the encyclical Deus caritas est, direct responsibilities do not fall on the Church as such, but on the lay Christians". The cardinal points out the remarkable growth, over the last few years, within the lay organisations and movements, of "awareness of such job" and "the will to jointly carry it out" in connection with "those goals that concern the good of the human person and that as such are essential". (continued)
