On Barbara Kornfeld
War cannot be tolerated even as a joke: this is the intrinsic message of the long and heartfelt appeal of the archbishop of Potenza – Muro Lucano – Marsico Nuovo, as well as President of the Episcopal Conference of Basilicata, Mons. Davide Carbonaro who in these days of grace welcomed Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa into his diocese, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins. The Patriarch's testimony shook the common conscience: “the war…has had a huge impact on the Palestinians and Israelis…eighty percent of the houses are destroyed…There is no water and the sewage system has been blown up due to the bombs…Sadness and mistrust make it as master. In the strip there is a parish. Before the outbreak of war, community mattered 1017 faithful. Now there are 621… It's difficult to talk about trust, hope and future in a similar situation.”
The general emotion was soothed by the concrete and proactive reflections of Mons. Carbonaro who called for peace: “starting next door, taking care of each other, disarming banal quarrelsomeness. The service to peace was born among the wounds of the educational emergency, especially with reference to the younger generations, often abandoned to themselves and without points of reference" therefore the parallelism between child soldiers was born here, victims of a war that tears their young bodies - and shocks their psyche - and the Western children who are given increasingly sophisticated and similar toy weapons, I therefore invite you to stop this attitude which normalizes even war conflicts: “Let's give our kids colored crayons and offer them the chance to draw this world of ours with the colors and dreams of hope”.
The words of the two priests struck the hearts of those present. Pastoral activity in conflict-affected areas is fundamental. The idea of Msgr. Carbonaro brings back the memory of the writer, by a lucky game of coincidences, what another well-known priest has been doing for over twenty years: Don Silvio Mantelli, Salesian from the Sales foundation in Turin who goes to the places of forgotten wars with the aim of bringing concrete aid to populations in difficulty. Among other activities he delights in sophisticated magic tricks to give them a smile. When he returns to Italy he sometimes organizes shows to raise funds for humanitarian projects: at the same time he gets the toy weapons from the children and in exchange gives them a "magic wand".
At the meeting organized by the Diocese of Matera-Irsina on 23 August 2024 obviously the mayor of Matera was also present, Dr. Domenico Bennardi who underlined the need to build "bridges of dialogue between the parties in conflict" and expressed satisfaction with the ancient pact of friendship with the mayor of Bethlehem.
The Archbishop of Matera-Irsina concluded the work, Mons. Antonio Giuseppe Caiazzo, announcing that the Episcopal Conference of Basilicata will make a contribution to the Church of Jerusalem: “…as Christians we cannot escape. We must pray and act with small financial supports, that each of us can give, to bring relief to the populations of the Holy Land".
