Chronicle of a special day

There are places that are like metaphors. They tell what they have been and the new paths they have crossed. They make the pain of the past visible and at the same time the possibility of redemption.
The Arsenale della Pace in Turin has been made of this substance since 2 August 1983. The old arms factory that produced part of the artillery of the wars of the Risorgimento and of the two world wars transformed by the free work of millions of young people and adults into a concrete testimony of peace.

To use the words of Pope Francis, in a fact that he speaks for itself, an unfortunately dramatically timely message in a world where the winds of war are blowing strongly.
Francis speaks in the Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. He does so in an audience with the Fraternity and friends of Sermig, accompanied by the archbishop, mgr. Roberto Repole and by the emeritus, Msgr. Cesare Nosiglia.
A representation of the people who shared the ideals of Ernesto Olivero, his wife Maria and their friends who in the 1960s founded the first group with the dream of "defeating" hunger in the world. «The Sermig – says the Pope – is a kind of large tree grown from a small seed. Such are the realities of the Kingdom of God".
Shortly before, Ernesto Olivero takes the floor, excited by a meeting he has been pursuing for years. He summarizes his life as a married father, now a grandfather. A bond never interrupted with his wife Maria, «now in Heaven». The anecdote of a young wife who asks her husband to choose a single group to commit himself to the others and thus reconcile family commitments. «Sermig was born because I obeyed her, – she says – we wanted to help the poorest and fight hunger in the world».

Then the memory of the meetings with the mayor of Florence, Giorgio La Pira, who made the first young people of Sermig discover Isaiah's prophecy of a time when weapons would no longer be built and peoples would no longer practice the art of war. Thus the face-to-face dialogue with Pope Paul VI who asked to start a revolution of love from Turin.
"When we discovered the ruins of the old arsenal - remembers Ernesto - we thought with astonishment that perhaps that was the place where the prophecy of Isaiah and the revolution of love that the Pope hoped for could live together".

The rest is history: Mayor Diego Novelli's choice to entrust a first piece of the structure to the group, then the arrival of other spaces, today covering over 40,000 square meters, the movement for good that from 1983 to 2019 led to the conversion of the old ruins in the place that everyone can admire today, between the Cottolengo and the Dora. A trail of good nourished by thousands of volunteers together with the Fraternity of Hope, made up of those who have seen the fulfillment of their vocation in Sermig: families, individuals, priests, consecrated men and women, young people, every state of life. All represented at the meeting in the Vatican, led by Rosanna Tabasso, the first girl who asked to live her consecration at Sermig, today the current manager of the group, after Ernesto Olivero's choice to resign.

The pope listens with simplicity, to then entrust those present with an intense reflection: Sermig seen as a good fruit of the season of the Second Vatican Council, a response to the signs of the times rooted in the Gospel and in faith in God. he clearly sees that Sermig did not do mere activism, but space was left for him: prayed to him, adored by him, recognized by him in the little ones and the poor, welcomed by him in the marginalized». What the Arsenale della Pace has to say starts right here, «it is the fruit of God's dream», «a dream that moved arms and legs, animated projects, actions and materialized in the conversion of an arsenal of arms» where today «weapons of peace are handcrafted, which are encounter, dialogue, acceptance». "And how are they made?" asked Francesco. "Through experience: in the Arsenale young people can concretely learn to meet, to dialogue, to welcome".

This is what the Arsenale della Pace has been trying to do since the beginning of its history, through what Ernesto Olivero calls the rule of the unexpected, embodied by the bell and whoever knocks on the door. After all, the tragedies of the world thus entered Piazza Borgo Dora, 61. From the appeals of missionaries to humanitarian expeditions to every continent, from dialogue with the world of prison to welcoming foreigners, Sermig has never shied away.
Lastly, in the face of the precipitation of events in the war in Ukraine when the Arsenal was invaded by a flood of solidarity and aid which made it possible to distribute over 1,500 tons of food and medicines in the affected areas.
“This is the way, – Francis underlines – because the world changes to the extent that we change.
While the warlords force many young people to fight their brothers and sisters, we need places where we can experience fraternity".

A word underlined several times. «The Sermig is called "fraternity of hope" - Francis comments - but the reverse can also be said, that is "the hope of fraternity". The dream that animates the hearts of Sermig's friends is the hope of a fraternal world». But all these realities: "peace, hope, encounter, harmony are built only with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. It is He who creates peace, hope, encounter, harmony . And construction sites go ahead if those who work there let the Spirit work within them».
At the end of his speech, the Pope wanted to greet those present
one by one: people of all ages, from different countries and religions, in the simplicity of a style that makes no difference. Thus Sermig writes a new page in his story: words to be kept that confirm the responsibility to bring young and old closer together and to make dialogue a priority. Because civil and ecclesial commitment are sides of the same coin. The meetings that took place in the past both with the presidents of the Republic and with other Popes tell the story. Now with Francis. Being "simply Christian" and good citizens: the secret is all here.

Matteo Spicuglia
In udienza dla Papa
NP February 2023