Yesterday, Saturday, June 8, began early for a small delegation of kids representing the Mascalzone Latino Sailing School. They left Naples for Rome at 7:40 AM on a Frecciarossa express, with free tickets kindly offered by the State Railways, and shortly before 9 AM we met up with Vincenzo and the rest of the group, made up of kids from Genoa and those arriving from Sardinia. From the Termini station, another Frecciarossa took is directly to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis and presented him with our “golden bridge in a sea of light”, portrayed by a model sailing boat loaded with the thoughts, dreams and hopes of our kids.
The kids were very thrilled and wouldn’t have missed out on this unique chance to be received personally by the Pope for anything in the world. Pope Francis, in a daily life that has by now become hellish with hate and selfishness getting the upper hand, represents the magnet that orientates minds towards compassion for their neighbours.
As director of this ambitious project, I can’t help asking myself every day about the educational decisions to take so that these kids become adults aware of their role in the community in which they live. The virtue of compassion and Christian values, today more than ever, show us the path to follow.
The young Mascalzones got ready for this day with the desire to be there and share their recollections, fortunately distant, of the terrible flood in Sardinia. And the more recent ones of the collapse of the Morandi bridge.
Their enthusiasm and the joy at the meeting that I saw clearly in their eyes gives hope to us to, to President Onorato and all those who work behind-the-scenes of this school of life. We now have 10 kids full of light who, I am sure, will light others on their way.