It’s the event that every year, since 1980, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Rimini at the end of August. And after the 2020 “digital” edition, from Friday, August 20, the Meeting of Friendship Among Peoples, organized by the Communion and Liberation Movement, will again animate areas of the Exhibition Center of the City of Romagna.
The theme of this edition is “the courage to say ‘I,’” a quote from philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Bernhard Scholz, President of the Meeting Foundation, entity that organizes the encounter, talks with Exaudi about “personal responsibility,” “more widespread solidarity” and “more determined creativity,” as ”decisive factors to reinforce sociability and civil society and to overcome the continuous oscillations between resignation and rebellion. And the courage to say ‘I’ consists in fidelity to one’s desire for good and is, in fact, the contrary of individualism, which instead withdraws from commitment to life and closes in face of challenges.”
Here is the interview with Dr. Scholz:
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EXAUDI: The Rimini Meeting, known as the Meeting for Friendship among Peoples, and entitled “The Courage to Say ‘I,’’ will be held for the 42nd time in the Italian sea town from August 20-25, 2021. What novelties distinguish this year’s edition from previous ones? What elements characterize the 2021 edition?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: The novelties are, first of all, the fact that the title intends to incite strongly to self-awareness and to one’s relationship with the world. And this aspect will be present in many meetings and exhibitions; then the fact that the Meeting is being held there. There was no guarantee that we could go back this year to a Meeting in presence, after having had a special edition last year that was predominantly digital. We are grateful for this opportunity and we are grateful that the Meeting has awakened great interest. We foresee a broad participation, sparked also by a very rich and varied program. Taking advantage of what we learned though in 2020, the entire Meeting will also be accessible via streaming and different exhibitions will also be held digitally.
EXAUDI: The Meeting is a manifestation that has just turned 40 years (the first edition was held in 1980); therefore, it has covered from its birth up to today a good piece of history, without losing the impetus of the origins. What is the secret of the “success” of the proposal?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: You need to ask those that take part in it. For my part, I would say that the “secret” consists in a capacity of hospitality and gratuitousness, of sensitivity for the beautiful, and true human curiosity, which are fruits of the education that comes through Communion and Liberation and is extended and reinforced in an infinity of meetings. In a particular way it is the young volunteers that live and communicate this experience in an especially fascinating way.
EXAUDI: The Pope and the President of the Italian Republic usually send messages of encouragement and appreciation for the work. Will this be the case also this year?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: The Pope has announced his message to us also this year, and President Sergio Mattarella will take part in the opening of the Meeting itself.
EXAUDI: “The courage to say ‘I” is a quotation of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. We are living at a time of individualism, in which it is often easier to say ‘I’ than ‘we.’ The words of Cardinal Ratzinger in 2005 come to mind, before being elected Pope: “A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as definitive and has as ultimate measure only oneself and one’s desires.” What message do you want to launch with this title?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: We chose this title to share and deepen the many virtuous experiences that happened in fact during the pandemic, which have demonstrated a greater assumption of personal responsibility, a more widespread solidarity and a more determined creativity — all this in face of difficult if not dramatic situations. The rediscovery of existential questions, often neglected, has been very important. They are all decisive factors to reinforce sociability and the civil society and to overcome the continuous oscillations between resignation and rebellion with a patient and determined constructive spirit. This courage to say ‘I’ consists of fidelity to our desire for good and is in fact the contrary of the individualism that instead withdraws from commitment to live and closes itself in face of challenges. Without this courage a true “we” cannot even be born, but only an ideological ‘we’, as refuge and not as support. It’s the relativism of which Pope Benedict speaks, which at its origins has a lack of courage to follow the most decisive existential questions of one’s life to let oneself be dragged by the general levelling.
EXAUDI: What are this year’s highlights? And even though the Meeting is thought of in general as a rather Italian event, what events are planned that can most interest an international public?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: The real highlights are the many testimonies of little-known people who day by day face difficult if not downright dramatic situations and challenges of youth hardship, of people abandoned in the peripheries, of sickness and of poverty. These people live in many different countries — Uganda, Argentina, the United States, Rumania, Russia, Ukraine. They are people that in fact have the “courage to say ‘I.’” In addition to these testimonies, of interest to the international public can be the many meetings on education, on science, in particular on the neurosciences, on culture and on the social media, on the future of democracy, on the ecological transition, almost all with the participation of people from different countries.
EXAUDI: The pandemic emergency is still not resolved. What effect will it have on the organization of the Meeting this year?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: The most important effect for the participants is the need to register through the “Rimini Meeting” app, which can be downloaded by smartphone be it Android be it iOS; generated after the insertion of data is a QR Code that becomes active by entering the Green Pass data. Those that don’t have a Green Pass can reserve a swab at the entrance of the Meeting. It will be obligatory to wear a mask inside the Meeting.
EXAUDI: How is the Rimini Meeting inserted in the history of the Communion and Liberation Movement? And how has the Meeting accompanied the history of Communion and Liberation?
BERNHARD SCHOLZ: The Rimini Meeting is an initiative created by members of Communion and Liberation as possibility of a dialogue with all on the most important subjects of our time and as an invitation to enjoy the beauty of art. As I already mentioned earlier, the membership of many friends that have created this event every year is certainly at the origin of the welcome, the artistic sensitivity and the genuine curiosity that characterize the Meeting. At the same time, the Meeting has put on the large screen topics and concerns that the Movement has stressed in various ways during its history, such as education, work, the relationship between faith and culture, the dialogue between religions and cultures, the relations between intermediate bodies and the State and many other related topics.
EXAUDI: What possibilities are there for all those who are interested in taking part in this event and following it, but cannot be present in Rimini, to follow it remotely?
EXAUDI: It’s possible to follow the meetings and a large part of the exhibitions on streaming. Everything will be available live in English and Spanish. Some meetings will also be broadcast live on TV and information sites. The indications are found on the program, which can be found on the site.
