Vatican City, August 17, 2020 / 8:30 a.m. (CNA).- Pope Francis on Monday invited participants in an annual Catholic festival to join him “to bear witness to the experience of the beauty of God.”

In a message on behalf of the pope for this year’s meeting for friendship among peoples in Rimini, Italy, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin highlighted the role of beauty in attracting people to the faith Christian.

“The Pope therefore invites you to continue to collaborate with him in witnessing to the experience of the beauty of God who became flesh so that our eyes marvel at his face and our eyes find in him the wonder of live,” the cardinal wrote. in the message dated August 5 and published by the Holy See’s press office on August 17.

Parolin noted that the theme for this year’s meeting, which will take place August 18-23, is “Devoid of wonder, we remain deaf to the sublime,” taken from American Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 1955 book “God to the search for man.

The meeting, which usually attracts around 800,000 people and is organized by the church’s Communion and Liberation movement, is being held online this year due to the coronavirus crisis, which has claimed more than 35,000 lives in Italy as of August 17.

According to official programthe opening session will feature Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, who was appointed member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences by Pope Francis in July. The last day will include a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

The cardinal said this year’s theme would offer “a valuable and original contribution to a dizzying moment in history.” He noted that the pandemic has allowed many to rediscover wonder.

“Over the past few months, we have experienced this dimension of wonder that takes the form of compassion in the face of suffering, fragility and the precariousness of existence,” he said in the message addressed. to Bishop Francesco Lambiasi of Rimini.

“This noble human sentiment has prompted doctors and nurses to meet the grave challenge of the coronavirus with unwavering dedication and admirable commitment. The same feeling, full of affection for their students, has enabled many teachers to embrace the fatigue of distance learning, ensuring the completion of the school year. And it has also allowed many to find in the faces and in the presence of family members the strength to face discomfort and difficulties.

Parolin described the Rimini gathering, which has taken place every year since 1980, as a “powerful reminder” of the need to cultivate wonder.

“Wonder is the way to grasp the signs of the sublime, that is to say of this mystery which constitutes the root and the foundation of all things”, he writes.

The cardinal recalled that a group of artists had written to Pope Francis, thanking him for pray for them at Mass in the chapel of his residence, Casa Santa Marta, during the coronavirus lockdown.

“Artists make us understand what beauty is, and without beauty the Gospel cannot be understood,” the pope said.

Quoting Msgr. Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, Parolin wrote: “This is why the theme that characterizes the meeting launches a decisive challenge to Christians, called to bear witness to the profound attraction exercised by faith by virtue of its beauty: ‘attraction of Jesus’, according to an expression dear to the Servant of God Luigi Giussani.

The cardinal concluded by saying that the pope has granted his apostolic blessing to the participants of this year’s meeting and asked them to continue to pray for him.

Recalling that Saint John Paul II once said: “It is worth being a man, for you, Jesus, you have been a man”, said Parolin: “Isn’t this astonishing discovery perhaps be the greatest contribution that Christians can offer to support the hope of men? This is a task we cannot shirk, especially at this sharp turn in history. It is the call to be transparent images of the beauty that has changed our lives, concrete witnesses of the love that saves, especially with regard to those who suffer the most today.

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