30 events including meetings, performances, workshops and guided experiences. After 800 years, the Rule of Francis will be reflected upon once again. Being in the Rule is, in fact, the central theme of the 9th edition of the "Courtyard of Francis".
"Through the Cortile of Francis," said Friar Marco Moroni, OFMConv, Custos of the Sacred Convent of St. Francis, "our Franciscan community wishes to enter the public debate in a style of fraternity. This is possible thanks to the underlying trust that each one is a treasure of good that does good to all.
The Cortile de Francesco, then, is not simply a festival, an orderly and organic set of conferences and events that can offer us thoughts, ideas, knowledge. It is rather an experience of intellectual friendship, because what changes the world are not only ideas, but people who, together, dream and develop wise ways of social good".
Introducing the event, Friar Giulio Cesareo, OFMConv, Director of the Sacred Convent Communications Office, said. "St. Francis did not write the Rule in order to obtain from the Pope a nulla osta for the lifestyle he led with his first companions. On the contrary, Francis wrote it to ask the Pope if the existence they were leading was in conformity with the Gospel of Christ, the only true goal of their life.
From this point of view, reflecting on "being in order" in the Cortile of Francis means promoting our freedom - the inexhaustible yearning of everyone's heart - with everyone else and never without them! In our times, so marked by the breakdown of social bonds and widespread aggressiveness, the rules of the good and beautiful life are at the service of a social lifestyle that places respect and care at the center, a civic expression of that fraternity of which St. Francis is the undisputed inspiration".
This edition features numerous guests, including Comieco CEO Carlo Montalbetti, businessman Brunello Cucinelli and the President of the National Federation of the Italian Press, Vittorio Di Trapani.
"We must change the anthropological principle that has prevailed for three centuries according to which Homo hominis lupus and adopt the thought of St. Francis according to which man is by nature a friend of another man," said economist Stefano Zamagni during the introductory panel on "New Rules for a New Economy." "We must not be afraid," he stressed, "even the sea needs rocks to reach higher," encouraging those present to face the obstacles of our time. The environment and climate change were also the focus of the first day.
The climate crisis can become a great opportunity for growth and development, because - as Rossella Muroni, ecologist and sociologist, pointed out - we are in the era in which we should be concerned with making people's happiness grow. The first day concluded with the screening of the docufilm "Perugino. Immortal Renaissance.
The day of Saturday, September 16, will be marked by an event defined as "historic" by the promoters (entitled "The Gospel is Life: the Rule of Francis" - 11:30 a.m. - Cimabue Hall). Sala Cimabue): the Ministers General of the Franciscan First Order, 800 years after the confirmation of the Rule of St. Francis by Honorius III on November 29, 1223, will gather in Assisi - together with many friars of the various religious families - to reflect together on the present and the challenges of Franciscan life in the third millennium.
The dialogue will be enriched by the presence of Maria Pia Alberzoni (historian of Franciscanism), Friar Sabino Chialà (prior of the monastic community of Bose) and Davide Rondoni (internationally renowned poet and President of the National Committee for the celebrations of the VIII Centenary of the death of St. Francis). On the same day, Saturday 16, a dialogue entitled "TV: mother or stepmother?" will be held between Giampaolo Rossi, general director of Rai, and the director of the Osservatore Romano Andrea Monda. A reflection on the challenges of quality programming that can be combined with the search for truth, pluralism and audience ratings.
This year there will also be a "Children's Courtyard", the usual event reserved for the little ones, as well as guided experiences inside the library, the archives and the basilica.
And then the guided experiences in the Archives and Library of the Sacro Convento and in the Basilica of St. Francis, and the activities for the little ones in the Children's Courtyard, on the lawn of the upper church.
The round tables and conferences of the Cortile de Francisco 2023 are streamed on the YouTube channel "Patio de Francisco". The complete program is available at www.cortiledifrancesco.it
Closing the three-day event will be the company Donne del Muro Alto (composed of former inmates of Rome's Rebibbia prison) with a theatrical performance of Medea in Tailor's Shop in the setting of Piazza Inferiore di San Francesco at 9 p.m. on September 16.
