by Tamara Pastorelli
In these days when the whole world remembers Pope Francis, Loppiano is also reliving the power of the surprising encounter with him on 10 May 2018.
A thick, dense fog enveloped the Loppiano plateau from sunrise. Around 7,000 people had gathered in the early hours of the morning on the lawns in front of the Maria Theotokos Shrine. Among them were the citizens of Loppiano, those from the Valdarno area, friends of the little town who had come from Tuscany and other Italian regions, and representatives of the worldwide family of the Focolare Movement. They could be recognised by their colourful and precious traditional costumes, worn as a sign of celebration. There were entire families, many young people, priests, men and women religious, and even a group of Buddhist monks wearing the typical orange ‘kesa’. Hundreds of Italian and foreign newspapers were represented. After all, it was a historic event: the visit of a pope. To be precise, the first ever to a town of the Focolare Movement. The only uncertainty was the white blanket that limited visibility to a few metres and showed no sign of disappearing: how would the helicopter carrying Pope Francis land? ‘We were in contact with the cockpit,’ recalls Donatella Donato Di Paola, who was co-director of Loppiano at the time, “and at one point it seemed impossible that the helicopter would be able to land. We were already talking about a ‘plan B’, with arrival in Bagno a Ripoli and various security difficulties, when we heard the pilot say: ‘It’s opening, it’s opening!’. So, right on time, at 10 a.m., the helicopter managed to touch down on the football field near the Salone San Benedetto!
Pope Francis had just visited Nomadelfia, the community founded by Don Zeno Saltini in the province of Grosseto, where he had spent a couple of hours. In Loppiano, he was welcomed by Maria Voce, then president of the Focolare Movement, Jesús Morán, the co-president, and Mario Meini, now bishop emeritus of Fiesole.
‘The wait had been anxious, but when Pope Francis arrived, I had the impression that he was the one welcoming us! He was a person of relationships. Despite the protocol, we immediately felt at ease with him,’ says Donatella. ‘For me, his greeting was like that of a father.’
Among the crowd that day was Bernhard Callebaut, a Belgian professor of sociology at the Sophia University Institute. ‘I was accompanying a group of Buddhists from Thailand. I was very struck by something the Pope said to us: ’Here in Loppiano there are no peripheries‘. He saw this little town as a place where people of other religions or secular traditions could learn dialogue between different people. Living unity, not in uniformity, but in diversity.’ He concludes: ‘When someone with authority confirms what you are trying to live, it is truly touching!’
Maria Gaglione, now CEO of E. di C. S.p.A., the company that manages the Polo Lionello Bonfanti, was on the lawn in front of the Maria Theotokos shrine. ‘Pope Francis in his address also mentioned the Polo as an expression that attested to the incisiveness and large-scale projection of the ideal of fraternity that is lived in the little town of Loppiano. I understood this better after his words, thanks to my involvement in the Economy of Francesco. In Assisi, in 2022, I emphasised that reality is greater than the idea. ‘Works are less luminous than great ideas,’ he told us, ‘Because they are concrete, particular, limited, with light and shadow together, but they fertilise the earth day after day’.
It was the first time a pontiff had visited Loppiano, a laboratory of coexistence and fraternity born from Chiara Lubich’s desire to create a city, albeit a small one, based on the mutual love of the Gospel. The challenge that Pope Francis launched to the little town that day was to contribute to ‘building a shared culture of encounter.’
‘It is this spirituality of “us” that you must carry forward, that saves us from all selfishness and selfish interests,’ he said. He then clarified that this was not only a spiritual fact, but a “concrete reality with formidable consequences – if we live it and if we authentically and courageously apply its various dimensions – at the social, cultural, political and economic levels…”. He emphasised: ‘Jesus redeemed not only the individual, but also social relations. Taking this fact seriously means shaping a new face for the city of men according to God’s plan of love. Loppiano is called to be this. And it can seek, with confidence and realism, to become it ever more fully’.
In short, a programme for life. ‘This year we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the little town, and it must be said that his words have become a reference point,’ explains Donatella Donato Di Paola. “The history of Loppiano is only just beginning,” he told us. He invited us to a creative fidelity to our origins, having the courage to move forward and dare with parrhesia, freedom and humour, even in the most difficult moments. Looking to Mary, as he suggested, the mother of Jesus, a lay woman and the first disciple. This town, which is also called ‘Mariapoli di Loppiano’, the town of Mary, today looks to her to live even more fully the message of welcome and hope that the Pope has encouraged us to give to the world’.