Tuesday 21 June at 19.00, Monsignor Domenico Cornacchia, bishop of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-
The occasion is the publication of the new book by Domenico Cornacchia Witness and teacher of virtue. The Christian journey of Don Tonino Bello (Libreria Editrice Vaticana). It is a detailed spiritual biography that traces the life of Don Tonino Bello, bishop of Molfetta in the Eighties, well known for his convinced commitment to peace, for his profound spirituality, for his side with the poor and immigrants. : a character of the Church that Pope Francis has declared “venerable”.
A biography, that of Monsignor Cornacchia, who investigates the various human and Christian virtues of Don Tonino: obedience, humility, poverty, chastity, fortitude, temperance, justice, charity, hope and faith.
An all-round reconstruction of Don Tonino’s life, in which the spiritual and human stature of one of the most significant figures of post-Council Italian Catholicism is restored to us. A figure to whom Pope Francis referred several times, who also visited the tomb of Don Tonino indicating him as a model: he was a believer capable “of making himself small to be close, of shortening distances, of offering an outstretched hand”.
Monsignor Cornacchia writes: «The coherence of Don Tonino, or rather in his profound unity between life and the profession of faith, constitutes the secret, in my opinion, of the fascination that emanates from his figure. A charm that is good for us, which stimulates us to convert, which encourages us to look at him as a model, making us wonder about our way of following Jesus ”. He also influenced a personality very distant from the faith such as the then President of the Republic Sandro Pertini, who was fascinated by Don Tonino’s simple bearing during a meeting, asking him the reason for choosing to wear an olive wood pectoral cross.
In Cornacchia’s book all the various aspects of Don Tonino Bello’s personality are described: first of all, a firm Christian faith, anchored to the word of God: “It was the fulcrum around which his life revolved and the strength that allowed him to realize fully his vocation “. The practice of charity was also decisive, which Don Tonino Bello understood as a concrete attestation of his choice of faith: helping the dispossessed, welcoming poor families into their own episcopal house, night help given to the homeless, are all examples of a taking charge of the poor as the concrete face of Jesus. Finally, hope as an active commitment in the social issues of one’s time, above all on the front of peace and disarmament: his participation in the 1992 peace march in Sarajevo, city besieged. “The commitment to peace was one of Don Tonino’s moments of greatest notoriety,” says Cornacchia. “When he organized the march to Sarajevo he invited all the monasteries and the sick to pray for the success of the event.”
Participation in the event on June 21 is free.
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In Bari the public meeting on Don Tonino Bello with his successor Domenico Cornacchia