The Acli Lombarde recalled Saturday the figure of the former regional president of the Acli Lombarde and, subsequently, national president from 1987 to 1994. Manfredonia: “His reflections on the relationship between the Gospel and politics still challenge the conscience of believers and beyond”
MILAN – “Giovanni Bianchi was a tireless social animator, a very fine intellectual, who put his faith, his culture and his passion at the service of society and the institutions of our country”. This is what we read in the message sent by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella on the occasion of the conference “A thought for democracy”, promoted on 25 June 2022, in Milan, at the Acli – Enaip Lombardia headquarters, from the Lombard, Milanese and national Acli, in collaboration with the Circoli Dossetti, to commemorate one of the most significant Catholic voices in Italian politics since the seventies five years after his death to date.
“His clear figure and his exemplary commitment represent a sure point of reference for the younger generations and a solicitation for those involved in the institutions”, underlined the head of state in his message, read by Silvia Barbantiwife of Giovanni Bianchi and secretary of the Circoli Dossetti.
A man of great culture and profound spirituality, Bianchi was regional president of the Acli Lombarde and subsequently national president from 1987 to 1994. With him the need for a renewed political planning of democratic Catholics and a new social citizenship in the wake of the experience of Sturzo, by De Gasperi and Dossetti. It was in Sesto San Giovanni, where he was born, that his militancy in the DC began. He would return to institutional roles, after the long stint, like parliamentary And president of the Italian People’s Party.
“He was a sincere man of peace and an open and disinterested policy – commented the president of Acli Lombardia Martino Troncatti, bringing his greeting at the opening of the conference -. For him, work has always been an absolute beacon, a great organizer of social life ”.
The initiative was also an opportunity to name the Salone delle Acli lombarde and to present “Witnesses and teachers. Materials for a Christian Labor “a volume that collects and reissues some of his essays.
At the center of the conference was also the reflections that John expressed, in an important phase of transition for the Church and Italian society, on the relationship between the Gospel and politics, pages which, explained the national president of the Acli Emiliano Manfredonia in dialogue with the spiritual companion of the Acli Father Giacomo Costa“Even today they challenge the conscience of believers and others, and in some way anticipate some fundamental themes of the magisterium of Pope Francis”.