June 9, 2024 - "First World Children's Day"

 On May 26, 2024, about 50,000 children and adults gathered in St. Peter’s Square for a Mass that concluded the first World Children’s Day.  Pope Francis established this world day as a “movement of boys and girls who want to build a world of peace, where we are all brothers and sisters, a world that has a future because we want to take care of the environment around us.”
 
The Italian comic Roberto Benigni spoke after the Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Benigni is best known in the English-speaking world for his 1997 film Life is Beautiful, which won three Oscars.  In Italy he is just as famous for his monologues which blend his humor with commentary on politics and literature.  Here are some excerpts from his speech given after the Mass concluding the first World Children’s Day.
 
Fairy Tales
“Kids have to read everything.  All the fairytales, which are so important! You’ll ask me what’s the point of fairytales, with the princesses, the orcs, the dragons?  No, fairy tales don’t tell children that dragons exist—they already know that!  Fairytales teach children that dragons can be defeated.”
 
Difficulties
“Do difficult things—the more difficult they are, the better! When you say, ‘I can’t manage this; it’s too hard’, that’s what you have to do! Difficult things.  And if you mess up, don’t worry! You make mistakes? It’s fine—make a mistake and then make a mistake again, try and try again. Mistakes are necessary, useful, and sometimes beautiful—for example, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  What a beautiful mistake!”
 
The Sermon on the Mount
“In life, people give a lot of advice. But I can honestly say: the only sensible thing I’ve ever read in my entire life, do you know who I heard it from? From Jesus. In the Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus—it’s enchanting, so beautiful, a beauty you can’t resist—when Jesus gives these lists we have to memorize.  Blessed are the humble, the peacemakers, the merciful … Exactly, blessed are the merciful, that is to say, taking care of others’ pain, being sensitive, forgiving. Basically being profoundly good. That’s what Jesus said, and I tell you, it seems to me to be the only sensible thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life, the only good idea that’s ever been expressed in human history.”
 
War
“We know that, very often, the world is governed by people who don’t know what mercy is, what love is, people who commit the most serious and most stupid of sins: war … What we say becomes true; the big problem is finding the right words, the words that make things come true. For example, nobody has yet found the right word, the magic word, to put an end to war, like ‘open sesame’, ‘stop war’, and the war stops. We haven’t found it—we haven’t managed it. But look—that word exists. I’m sure that, among you, there’s someone who will find the word to put a stop to war forever. I know it! I can feel it! Because that word exists! One of you has to find it, we’ll find it together, we have to search for it, all together, with passion, with sincerity, we have to search for it in every language, with imagination, and we’ll find it, you will find it.!”

If you want to read some more excerpts from Roberto Benigni’s talk, you can read the article by Joseph Tulloch entitled “Roberto Benigni at World Children’s Day: ‘Open your eyes and dream’.”  It was posted on the Vatican News website on May 26, 2024.
 
Until next week,
Fr. John