LE OPERE DI MISERICORDIA

JUNE 29.Advising the doubters

H.E.R. Msgr. Rino Fisichella

JUNE 30.

Teaching the ignorant

Sister Catherine Aubin

5 JULY

Admonishing sinners

HE Msgr. Matteo Maria Zuppi

6 JULY

Consoling the afflicted

H.E.R. Card. Francesco Coccopalmerio

7 JULY

Forgiving offenses

H.E.R. Msgr. Giancarlo M. Bregantini

12 JULY

Patiently enduring harassing people
Prof. Gianluigi Pasquale

13 JULY

Praying for the living and the dead

H.E.R. Msgr. Renato Boccardo

to curated by Lucetta Scaraffia
production Spoleto56 Festival dei 2Mondi

In collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization

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After last year's successful experience, in which the sermons on the seven deadly sins received exceptional and in some ways unexpected public interest, this year the Festival dei 2Mondi, again in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, is offering a new cycle of sermons, this time dedicated to the Works of Spiritual Mercy.

Mercy, understood as concrete and visible love, effective and not merely affective, operational and practical, is at the foundation of the Judeo-Christian message, as the Holy Scriptures teach. But it is to the Christian tradition that we owe the establishment of a veritable list of works of mercy that every Christian is bound to to perform, intervening in the face of the different needs of other human creatures.

Today, the corporal works of mercy -- give from food to the hungry, give from drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, house pilgrims, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead -- while still relevant, are largely absorbed by state welfare or organized works of assistance, while the spiritual works of mercy, almost forgotten, suggest a field of action for individual initiative. They prompt to attention to the quality of the relationships we establish with the people around us, or even with those we meet by chance: counseling the doubters, teaching the ignorant, admonishing sinners, consoling the afflicted, forgiving offenses, patiently enduring the harassed, praying for the living and the dead.

Certainly, these are difficult works of mercy from to define and from exercise in an age of cultural relativism. They require humility and attentiveness: while consoling the afflicted is undoubtedly one of the most practicable and ever-needed works of mercy, which cannot be delegated to a welfare institution, counseling the doubtful can easily become manipulative, but at the same time providing enlightening advice can prove to be an invaluable asset to our lives.

In a world moving at an ever-increasing speed, the virtue of patience is difficult to even from understand, but it is essential: patience is the art of living with incompleteness, not only of others, but also of ourselves.
Lucetta Scaraffia

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H.E.R. MONS. RINO FISICHELLA

Rino Fisichella, born to Codogno (Lodi) on August 25, 1951. Ordained priest for the diocese of Rome on March 13, 1976, and Auxiliary Bishop of Rome in 1998. Received, in 1980, his doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he taught "Fundamental Theology" from 1981 to 2001. Invited professor in several Italian and foreign universities. From 2002 to 2010 he was Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical Lateran University. From 2008 to 2010 he was President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Since June 30, 2010, he has been President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. He is also a Member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. He is considered among the most influential Italian theologians to international level. In 2005 he received the Gold Medal for Culture from Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

SUOR CATHERINE AUBIN
Born in France in 1959, a Dominican of the Roman Congregation of St. Dominic. She graduated in psychology then in theology at the Faculty of Theology of the "Institut Catholique" in Paris, then obtained her doctorate in Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas to Rome where she teaches Sacramental and Spiritual Theology as at the Pontifical Urbanian University and the Institute of Theology of Consecrated Life. He contributes to Vatican Radio for some spirituality broadcasts. He has written books on spiritual anthropology translated into several languages.

H.E.R. MONS. MATTEO MARIA ZUPPI
Born to Rome in 1955, he joined the Community of Sant'Egidio since high school. He graduated in Letters from the University of Rome in History of Christianity, with a dissertation on Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster. Ordained a priest in the Diocese of Palestrina in 1981, he continued his studies at the Lateran University. He carried out his pastoral ministry first as deputy pastor in the Basilica of S. Maria in Trastevere and then, from 2000 to 2010, as pastor. He later served as pastor in the working-class neighborhood of Torre Angela. In the Community of Sant'Egidio, he was General Ecclesiastical Assistant. He was particularly involved in peace and solidarity issues, especially for Latin America and Africa. During the peace negotiations for Mozambique, he was one of the four mediators. Fr. Matthew chaired the Security and Peace Commission of the Burundi peace negotiations, of which Nelson Mandela was the facilitator.

H.E.R. CARD. FRANCESCO COCCOPALMERIO
Born March 6, 1938 to San Giuliano Milanese, ordained priest June 28, 1962; doctorate in canon law in 1968 at Pontifical Gregorian University, law degree in 1976 at Catholic University of Milan.

Since 1980 attorney general of the Milan curia and in 1985 pro-vicar general; on April 8, 1993 appointed auxiliary bishop of Milan, president of the CEI council for legal affairs since 1999.

Since 2007 president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and member of several Vatican Dicasteries; since 2008 central consultant of the Italian Catholic Jurists Union.

Since 1981 invited professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Gregorian. He is co-founder of the journal Quaderni di Diritto Ecclesiale and author of numerous scholarly publications.

H.E.R. MONS. GIANCARLO M. BREGANTINI
Father GianCarlo Maria Bregantini, was born to Denno (TN) on Sept. 28, 1948. His closeness to the world of work is rooted in his experience from as a young man in the factories of Verona. His understanding of workers' problems and sacrifices prepared him to to carry out his apostolate in the Pastoral Care of Labor in the archdiocese of Crotone-Santa Severina, where he opened avenues into the working-class world. Ordained a priest on July 1, 1978, he teaches religion at the Nautical Institute and Church History at the Pontifical Regional Theological Seminary in Catanzaro. from chaplain of the prison, a place where good and evil clash, with such power that it does not allow one to remain neutral, he learns the mercy of a God who becomes close to the errant; he does not judge him, but saves him. to Bari is a lecturer in the Interfaith Studentate of Puglia, pastor of San Cataldo and chaplain of the CTO. His encounter with the reality of suffering molds him in fraternity and tenderness. Elected bishop of Locri-Gerace on Feb. 12, 1994, and consecrated in Crotone Cathedral on April 7, he entered the diocese a month later. President of the C.E.I. Commission on Social Problems and Work, Justice and Peace and Safeguarding Creation from 2000 to 2005, on Nov. 8, 2007, he was assigned to the metropolitan archiepiscopal see of Campobasso-Bojano, where he entered Jan. 19, 2008. He is currently a member of the Pontifical Commission for Clergy and Consecrated Life.

PROF. GIANLUIGI PASQUALE
Gianluigi Pasquale, of the Capuchin Friars Minor, Doctor of Theology and Doctor of Philosophy, is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican City. From 2001 to 2010 Dean of the affiliated Theological Studio "Laurentianum" in Venice, where he is still Lecturer, he also teaches Theology at the "Marcianum" in Venice, LUMSA in Rome and to Milan. He is an ordinary member of Italian and European Theological Associations and, at the Universities of Venice and Turin, a member of the respective CISE and SdAFF Centers. Author of some 30 monographs, many already translated, and various articles, he directs three Editorial Series and is polyglot.

H.E.R. MONS. RENATO BOCCARDO
Born to S. Ambrogio di Torino Dec. 21, 1952. Ordained Priest on June 25, 1977enters the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1982 and serves opera in the Apostolic Nunciatures of Bolivia, Cameroun and France. He is appointed Head of the Youth Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity on July 22, 1992. In this capacity he coordinates, among other things, the organization and celebration of World Youth Days in Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997) and Rome (2000), as well as the Pilgrimage of the Youth of Europe to Loreto (1995). In 2001 he was appointed Chief of Protocol of the Secretariat of State with special duties (responsible for organizing the apostolic journeys of the Supreme Pontiff). He became titular Bishop of Acquapendente and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications on November 29, 2003. NEl 2005 he was appointed Secretary General of the Governorate of Vatican City State and in 2009 he was promoted to Archbishop of Spoleto-Norcia.

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