The man in the center

"Man first of all" (John Paul II). And he must return to the center of the new course of Italy and Europe, what they call "the new Renaissance" after the blackout of the pandemic, the torment of two wars , one at the gate of Ukraine, the other in the “Promised Land”, and the lightning bolts of fire on the Suez Canal.

Artificial intelligence must also come later. If people become "fundamental" again, industrialists will not have a free hand to bring manufacturing to third and fourth world countries or around Europe, creating poverty in Italy and exploiting people there.
Thus scientists and politicians will hold high consideration for life, both at the beginning and at the end, respecting dignity and pain.
And the school will increasingly be a place of education, culture, wisdom, inspiration and imagination and there will no longer be room for the baby gangs which, instead, have returned to repopulate not only the outskirts of the big cities, but also the hamlets of small towns. Thus the "emergency rooms" of hospitals will once again be places of peaceful care and not of packed stretchers in hospitals, of attacks on doctors and nurses, with hands and words. Instead, the Italian ones are among the oldest in Europe as are the very brave doctors. There is the risk that "the new that advances" is too impregnated with the old.

If man is not at the center, illegal, poorly paid work will continue to proliferate (they are offering 300 euros to work all month on weekends), the exploitation especially of young people who, never again, will be able to build their dreams .
For them, the "social elevator" must get back into operation which, in past years, has also allowed the children of poor people (like me!) to reach the highest levels: in business, in politics, in science.

There must be a "pact between the elderly and the young", a pact between generations.
Those with white hair must stop debasing the new generations; these of forgetting what was done with great sacrifices.
If women and men, with their values and their dignities, are once again at the center, we can, as Pope Francis says, start dreaming again.

Instead, looking at reality, it's a completely different story: the queues at Caritas are getting longer and longer; Stellantis companies as well as small businesses are closing; the redundancy fund is growing; the poor (these are statistics!) die more because they cannot get treatment; Ilaria Sotis in chains from Budapest is in an indecent image; the death penalty in America and beheadings in the Middle East continue; rapes and feminicides don't stop; the tractors and farmers are in the streets because they are exasperated and they are right; a one-month-old baby was in prison for a while with his mother; health budgets are always over-priced; hatred devastates Israel and Palestine and God advances, here and there. It's the news of the day, even if it's very bitter.

Gian Mario Ricciardi
NP March 2024