Caritas in Rome celebrates 'Ordinary Extraordinariness'

(Oct. 12, 2011) Caritas in Rome is holding a week of activities, including a papal meeting with youth, to highlight the efforts at solidarity made by thousands of volunteers and staff, which often pass unobserved because they are so ordinary. This was the explanation offered by Monsignor Enrico Feroci, director of Caritas in Rome, as he explained the weeklong celebration called "Capitale solidale." Over the course of the week, a number of places symbolic of solidarity, such as Caritas canteens and shelters, will host lectures, roundtable discussions, book presentations, concerts and other events. The activities aim to spread “ a culture of solidarity in which, concern for those in greatest need is real and authentic," the monsignor said. The theme chosen this year is "Faces and Narratives From a United City." "The intention," Monsignor Feroci noted, "is to make people aware of the daily efforts of solidarity made by thousands of people, efforts which often pass unobserved, precisely because they are 'ordinary' in their extraordinariness."
On Thursday, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, will preside at a missionary vigil in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting with youth is scheduled for Saturday in St. Peter's Square.