Religions for Peace Youth Media Team Interviews Mr. Pietro Bartoli about the Manresa 2022 Forum

A Revolution of Tenderness to Transform Cities

“The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development.” With these words in Laudato Si, Pope Francis makes clear that pressing among the social and environmental crises is for them to be understood together. The disorder that has caused the climate catastrophe is the same that pits people against each other, looking out for their own comforts and security with little regard for their neighbor. We have forgotten how to live in unity, with love and care for each other, especially for the most vulnerable.

With the Community of Sant’Egidio, we have both faced and confronted these joint crises for many years and across many realities. The most basic of these is in heeding the cry of our brothers and sisters in the parts of the world most affected by climate change, which are also often some of the poorest. If we wish to create new modes of social and environmental integration, our perspective must begin from them. It is critical that any efforts be taken in the plural, because going at it alone is simply ignoring the reality that we are all, in the end, in the same boat.

Living in New York City, the nature of the city, often dark, concrete, dirty, can be overwhelming. It can be difficult to imagine how life in cities can be livable, sustainable, and allow everyone  a chance to flourish. Religions have something to say and do about this. First, we can and should pray together, as Sant’Egidio has done over the years with the International Prayers for Peace. But then we must also act on what our faiths call us to do, to serve one another, especially the poorest. One such example is the recently launched Sant’Egidio shower program for persons living on the street, who are otherwise often unable to maintain proper hygiene. This project, done in an ecumenical fashion with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, creates an occasion for encounter and transformation for all parties involved – the volunteer, the person showering, and every person who walks by. In this way, shower by shower and person by person, the city is transformed.

Much like homelessness in New York City, the global climate crisis is an enormously daunting task. Beyond the scope of any single individual, it can paralyze us into inaction. But nobody is too small, young, old, poor, or otherwise unable to make a difference. Even in situations that do not seem to be directly related to climate change, we can effect change.

An important example of this are the Schools of Peace around the world, where children gather to grow in loving and nurturing environments. Here, members of Sant’Egidio help teach the importance of a healthy and symbiotic relationship with nature while also exemplifying how to live in peace with all peoples. In the same way, young people of the Youth for Peace, although they may not be able to effect massive political change, regularly lead rallies and change behaviour and culture through their own commitments. They are examples of the power of a few who commit to living and working together, for each other.

There is no doubt that the solution to the enmeshed social and environmental crises cannot but be all-encompassing, one that re-imagines how we interact with each other and with the world. Likewise, the project cannot leave anyone out, for faith, age, or any other reason. We know already that the status quo cannot continue, and we already know many of the technical solutions that could help alleviate the worst of climate change’s consequences.

What remains is the revolution of tenderness, the commitment of every individual to love the stranger as their brother or sister. I look forward to sharing hope, inspiration, and ideas in the face of these large crises at the upcoming conference in Manresa. May we all be moved to work for our human family around the world, quick to respond to their cries and eager to share in their joys.

Mr. Pietro Bartoli is the Programme Director for the Sant’Egidio Solidarity Project. He will be a participant during the upcoming conference “At a Crossroads: An Intergenerational and Multireligious Response to the Social and Environmental Crisis” from 28-30 November.