De Gasperi Wanted

«It is 140 years since the birth of Alcide De Gasperi. The Republic remembers the figure of the founding father and the country is grateful for his work as architect of the moral, civil, economic, democratic reconstruction after the tragedy of the war wanted by fascism. Reconstruction, restart, rebirth are words of that time that recur in these days, in which we are hardly committed to fighting the pandemic, with an eye to the future.

De Gasperi had the courage to make difficult choices. (...) His capacity for vision contributed to developing the capital of freedom conquered with the Resistance in a fully democratic order, in a policy oriented to the fight against misery, illiteracy, overcoming social fractures impeding the growth of the country. He was able to give a new foundation to the idea of ​​a homeland, far from the regressive nationalisms that had thrown the continent into barbarism and he did so also by opening the doors to the resurgence of the idea of ​​Europe. The necessary recomposition of national unity, torn apart during the years of the Nazi-Fascist alliance, found for De Gasperi a guarantee in the Western choice and in that project of European unity, then an ideal and today an extraordinary opportunity as well as a historical responsibility.

"We have no right to despair!" Said the statesman from Trentino in a famous speech in Brussels. No one can take away the hope of the future from young people because it would obscure the future of the entire community. This is a task shared by all those who hold public responsibilities and all citizens. A task that in moments of acute crisis becomes even more demanding because it places the common good at the highest level "».

These are the words of the gentleman president, Sergio Mattarella, in memory of Alcide De Gasperi, the father and rebuilder of Italy after the disaster of fascism and the Second World War. He was certainly the greatest statesman of the twentieth century. But also the most forgotten. Mattarella did well to recall him to collective memory, in times of vast - and often very justified - discrediting of politics and politicians. We need a new De Gasperi. We don't have it. But his legacy remains: honesty, generosity, intelligence, sense of the state, spirit of service to the common good. For Catholics there are also faith and prayer, fidelity to the Church and the secular nature of politics. We are looking for imitators.
 

Renzo Agasso
NP may 2021