On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the famous conference "On the evils of Rome" strongly supported by Don Luigi, we report here an extract of his considerations.
(…) Here we discover the true origin of the meeting of the Christians of Rome on the expectations of justice and charity which took place from 12 to 15 February 1974. The city is not seen and felt as the most significant moment of a commitment and circulation of values community; it is almost never seen as the physical support walled in by the spirit of charity; it is instead seen as a place of consumption of values, of something that, no one knows who, must give to everyone for their needs and aspirations. Consumer religion and the city as a consumer environment.
From this awareness was born the idea and the need for a meeting, of an assembly type, which would offer all the components the possibility of the diocesan community of Rome, of a reflection on the city and on the responsibility, the duties that, for every Christian , arise from faith in the face of the community. The mobilization and animation of the entire Roman ecclesial community was the underlying objective of the conference, aiming to constitute an internal, personal and community awakening, to be placed before any further operational application.
The announcement of a meeting of the Christians of Rome on their city was accompanied by an analysis of the situation of the city, an analysis which had an enormous impact and gave rise to interpretations and controversies that were sometimes out of place. The meaning of the analysis is very different from an easy and sterile denunciation. Massive deformations have so upset the physical, social and moral aspect of the city of Rome that its inhabitants find it difficult to recognize themselves in it. The image of a city that has grown too quickly and in the name of selfishness and speculation presents a density of implications and problems of this kind on the urban planning and territorial planning level, on the transport and traffic level, on the of equipment and civil services, that the ongoing process risks downgrading the way of life of a population, compromising the very level of civilization.
If we try to overcome the moment of denunciation, although necessary if aimed at reconciliation and conversion, and address the issue of a precise search for responsibility, the public administration certainly cannot escape the recognition of its insufficient presence; the constraints and directions of the economic power protagonist of certain choices will be identified, but it will also be necessary to take note that certain experiences of exploitation perpetrated against the city are also the result of the absenteeism and selfishness of many, of that euphemistically called majority «silent." A silence which, if it is not always consensus, is, however, a form of apathy, of lack of vigilance, of renunciation of responsibility, of renunciation of commitment.
This situation cannot fail to be analyzed if we want to begin a work of renewal and reconciliation for a different city, not through moralistic discourses, but with profound changes in behavior and social and economic structures.
It is clear that this is a starting point, a prophetic gesture. In the final words of Cardinal Poletti, the underlining of the spirit of the meeting returns, that is «to examine, in each of us and therefore also as a community, whether or not the Church in the city of Rome is fully a leaven of salvation". On Holy Thursday 1971, in this same church, Paul VI asked the Christians the question: «Can we say that the Church of Rome excels in charity?".
The discourse, then, is and wants to be a discourse of «conversion" and not of social and political controversy. We want a different city, a new city, which belongs to everyone because it was made by everyone. A city that is the city of dialogue, between its citizens, between faith and technology, between aspirations and commitments, between Church and city, between bishop and local Christian community, rediscovering in this dialogue the specific vocation of the Pope's Diocese to be at service of dialogue with all the local churches scattered around the world.
Monsignor Luigi Di Liegro
From «The magazine of the Italian clergy», March - April 1974
