The Communion and Liberation movement in audience with the PopeRimini to bring together scientists, intellectuals and artists in a cultural eventMadrid meeting: trust under debateFrom October 25 to 27, the twenty-first edition of the EncuentroMadridThe conference was intended to address the question of whether, in spite of the present context, which at times can be seen as negative, it can be said that "the fabric of life is precious". The phrase in quotation marks is from Takashi Nagai, a Japanese doctor who suffered the fall of the atomic bomb and still found in the Christian faith the impulse to give great hope to the Japanese people in a very dramatic context for the nation.
High level speakers
The French philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj was one of the keynote speakers. Following the immortality proposals coming from transhumanism, he asked in his lecture why we want to preserve life indefinitely when we do not accept the risk of putting it at stake. "We want to create immortal men so that they can then commit suicide," Hadjadj said provocatively, explaining that if we seek only to preserve life, it is lost.
Andres Aziani, one of the protagonists of the exhibition "La Plaza del encuentro", "the best thing is the courage with which everyone must return to their own path to be able to say yes to life", with all its challenges and implications.
Giussani's proposal
Following the proposal of Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, the organizers of EncuentroMadrid propose a growth and maturity in faith based on dialogue and friendship with people of very different mentalities.
This congress is a space for dialogue and reciprocal recognition with people from diverse ethical and cultural traditions. As Professor Diego Garrocho said, "the sides are porous... it is not about winning, but about finding that millimeter of truth that is in the other's position. Difference must always be respected, but better still would be to make it an object of conversation".
Reflections on art
The central day of EncuentroMadrid 2024 featured two of the best speakers of this edition: the artists Antonio López, painter of the Madrid realist generation, and Pedro Chillida Belzunce, also an artist and son and collaborator of his father, Eduardo Chillida.
The meeting, presented by the architect Enrique Andreo, was preceded by a video documentary that he put together in which both Chillida father and son talked about their relationship with the work.
The video also addresses the Basque artist's relationship with faith, in a parallelism between artistic creation and Creation with a capital letter. "The word 'creation' is too big for man. I only conceive of creation at the level of God. It has been by natural flowering: I have had faith all my life, and the imbalances between reason and faith have always helped me. The true importance of reason lies in the power it has to make us understand its own limitations. If this problem had not been posed to me, surely my work would not have taken the path it has taken... nor would I have," reflects Eduardo Chillida.
Closing Mass with Cobo
Cardinal José Cobo closed EncuentroMadrid with a Mass in which he stressed to those present that "you have in your DNA two key words that are more necessary than ever: communion and liberation". From there, he urged to continue communicating this life to the open sea, especially to those who are far away or are more vulnerable, to continue weaving a web of true fraternity in which everyone can find the meaning and welcome they need and expect.
