Welcome to the new Archbishop of Bologna. Our hope is that he may become part of this welcoming community, bridging the vast gap between the values he embodies and the spirit of Bologna, an open and inclusive city. .
San Petronio in Bologna
This pluralistic space will also include the positions that Bishop Caffarra has expressed in the past, such as during the vote on Civil Unions in the Ferrara City Council. On that occasion, in 1998, the new bishop of Bologna declared: "Wanting to recognize the legal dignity of homosexual couples means we have allied ourselves with death.".
On the other hand, our author has been expressing himself in these terms for years. “There are signs of this alliance that culture has made with death,” he wrote in 1992, “signs that, in their frightening ambiguity, can only be understood in the context of this alliance. These signs are: drugs and homosexuality.” And again: “Homosexuality is the most radical separation that one can conceive and experience between sexuality and the gift of life. (…). In every culture not allied with death, blood and sex are the real, fundamental symbols of life and joy. In our culture allied with death, they (blood and sex) have become the vehicles of death in AIDS.”
We hope that, in the meantime, these nightmares have abandoned Monsignor Carlo and that the idea that love, in all its forms, is the highest and most beautiful expression of life, as a Nazarene whose Christmas we will soon celebrate, has also crept into his mind—so vividly fortified by the possession of the absolute truth but troubled by the thought of gay love.
We would like to recall here the recent words of Msgr. Luigi Bettazzi, Bishop Emeritus of Ivrea, who, speaking of homosexual love, lamented how "generally, unfortunately, there remain many absences and mistrust, not only on the part of the hierarchy, but first and foremost on the part of ecclesiastical public opinion itself, perhaps willing to remove the demonization but reluctant to recognize that it is a 'natural thing,' even if it is a minority.".
I am certain that the new Bishop will be welcomed by Deputy Mayor Salizzoni with a copy of the "Charter of Rights and Duties for Civil Coexistence," which, in Article 3, reiterates that peaceful coexistence is possible "only in a welcoming society free of discriminatory barriers between members of one's own community." Someone will explain to him, I hope, that he too is committed to adapting to the "historical and cultural traditions of the city," and that these traditions are steeped in cultural pluralism and a commitment to combating discrimination.
Anyway, welcome Archbishop, and Merry Christmas.
