Leo XIV is visiting this Saturday San Marino and Rimini with the aim of relaunching to the world his message of peace and coexistence from the Italian enclave, where a Pope is returning after more than 15 years, and from the Communion and Liberation Meeting in the Romagna city, one of the most important events for the Catholic world in Italy.
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“The Republic of San Marino can be a laboratory of good politics, where, without compromising the secular nature of the State, it is possible to draw on the principles of Catholic social doctrine: the pursuit of the common good, the universal destination of goods, the harmony between subsidiarity and solidarity, social justice,” the Pope said, addressing the authorities in the chamber of the Grand and General Council.
San Marino today has around 35,000 inhabitants and is recognised as one of the oldest republics in the world: its origins date back to the 4th century AD, while its current legal system has been in force since 1243.
It was precisely the reference to the traditional line of the Captains Regent, the highest authorities of the third smallest state in Europe, that the pontiff used in his speech to renew his call for the “building of peace”, for “esteem for diplomacy and multilateralism” and his opposition to the “power politics of our time” that “trample” international humanitarian law.
These are all ideas Leo XIV has been forcefully promoting since his election just over a year ago and which he also expressed to the faithful gathered in the central Piazza della Libertà.
“I am truly happy to be here with you, to greet you, to savour the beauty, history, tradition and faith of this people of San Marino. Always remain united in this welcoming spirit,” Leo XIV said, appearing on the balcony of the Palazzo Pubblico, seat of the San Marino government.
The scenes on the balcony recalled 29 August 1982, the day when it was John Paul II who went to San Marino, the first visit by a head of the Catholic Church to the Republic. His successor, Benedict XVI, undertook in 2011 a pastoral journey between San Marino and other Italian communities included in the same diocese.
Curiously, after almost 500 years, last March Leo XIV travelled to the Principality of Monaco, another European microstate which, with its roughly 2 square kilometres, is second in size only to Vatican City itself, just half a square kilometre in the heart of Rome.
What Leo XIV said in San Marino
After landing by helicopter at around 9 o’clock in the small city-state on Mount Titano, the Pope received military honours and held a private meeting with the Captains Regent, before his speech in the Sala del Consiglio dei XII and the blessing of the faithful from the balcony.
“Freedom is fulfilled in encounter and dialogue,” the Pope went on in his speech in San Marino, saying that the world often instead finds itself facing ‘political and economic projects that present themselves in the name of freedom, but in reality are enslaved to idols and to power’.
San Marino’s commitment to the common good and to justice “appears today even more precious, at a time when the Association Agreement with the European Union is about to become operational and your Republic will find itself in a stable, if particular, relationship with a complex reality that will be able to draw great benefit from your contribution,” Leo XIV added.
“Your Holiness, your presence rests upon our ancient history as a sign of light, renewing the deep bonds that, over time, have united the Holy See and our Republic,” replied the two Captains Regent, Alice Mina and Vladimiro Selva.
The significance of the pontiff’s participation in the Rimini meeting
Dignity, freedom and care for others: the words that resounded in San Marino, just 25 kilometres from Rimini, will also echo in Leo XIV’s address at the Rimini Meeting, a gathering for friendship among peoples that has been held since 1980. (source in Italian)
His presence at the 47th edition of the meeting organised by Communion and Liberation (source in Italian), a lay movement of Catholic inspiration founded by Father Luigi Giussani, is itself historic. The last to go was John Paul II in 1982, a journey between San Marino and Rimini that is therefore being repeated 44 years later by Leo XIV.
Thousands of people lined up from Saturday morning at the gates of the city’s exhibition centre where the event is being held. The capacity of 20,000 seats will be supplemented by giant screens set up for those who do not find a place in the hall. Last year attendance at the event was recorded at 800,000 people.
The opening of the meeting on Friday was marked by a message sent by Sergio Mattarella, often in tune with the appeals of the pontiffs.
“We are living in a time when senseless wars are being fought while very narrow oligarchies accumulate powers greater than those of many sovereign states,” the president of the Republic wrote in his note. “Solidarity, social friendship and the gratuitousness of love can open up unprecedented horizons even for politics, the economy and civic life.”
What is the Pope’s programme on Saturday in San Marino and Rimini
After meeting the civil authorities, Leo XIV went to the Basilica of San Marino for a moment of prayer and the veneration of the Relics of the Holy Patron.
“We live in a world wounded by many conflicts, where, with concern, we see growing violence, closed attitudes and fear of others. Faced with these disturbing trends, our only possible response is to walk with even greater conviction along the path of the Gospel”, the Pope said in his speech before the ecclesiastical authorities of the diocese, before going for lunch at the Monastery of Sant’Antonio in Pennabili, run by nuns of the Augustinian order, the same as Pope Prevost.
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