The homily of the bishop of the Diocese of Tempio Ampurias, Monsignor Roberto Fornaciari, was dedicated to migrants, to welcoming the unknown and to diversity as a gift, during the solemn pontifical mass this morning, in honor of the patron saint of Olbia and Gallura, attended by many faithful and many tourists.
"It is suggestive to think that our Simplicio had arrived in Olbia by sea to spread the faith and this leads me to reflect on how the arrival of people from different contexts can reveal itself as a gift", the bishop began.
From Pope Francis' third encyclical "Fratelli tutti" to the documents on brotherhood signed by the late pontiff with the imam of Al-azhar Ahmad al Tayyeb, Fornaciari's sermon is a hymn to the desire for dialogue with the foreigner, to reciprocity and to the practice of encountering the different as an "opportunity for enrichment and integral human development". In the tension between global and local, his excellency said, "we must find the key to solving the difficult problem of humanizing society".
In our region, he added, "we have a particular form of temporary migration due to seasonal tourism and we must not underestimate what this encounter, certainly quick but annually repeated, with people who come from other countries, from other cultural, social and religious contexts, produces in our reality: we must not overlook what it can produce in the souls of people who live with this phenomenon, bearer of dubious economic well-being if not prepared to welcome it, the illusions that it can fuel and the disappointments that it can cause, with all the consequences of the case", he concluded.
At 6pm, the patron saint will be carried in procession through the streets of the city that marked his martyrdom (live on Videolina).