» 02/04/2012 13:18 ITALY Responding today to Jesus' question: "Who do you say I am?" An International Symposium on "Jesus our contemporary," to be held in Rome from 9 to 11 February, organized by the Italian Churches’ Committee for Cultural projects. Cardinal. Ruini: "a strong message to society and a cultural world that are oppressed by so many other concerns and many other needs."
Rome (AsiaNews) – Finding an answer to Jesus of Nazareth’s question of "whom do you say that I am?", not only in faith, but also in culture, to offer it to a world that tends "to relegate Jesus to the past". This is the goal of a symposium on "Jesus our contemporary," to be held in Rome from 9 to 11 February, organized by the Italian Churches’ Committee for Cultural projects.
"A bold proposal, made in a respectful manner even to those who believe otherwise" and "a strong message to society and a cultural world that are oppressed by so many other concerns and many other needs”, according to Card. Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian Bishops' Conference. The Cardinal launched the initiative yesterday in Rome, which will be attended by over a thousand people, Christians and non-believers.
The event will start from the premise that "historical research on Jesus - said card. Ruini - in recent years has taken a turn" and "regained weight, including the resurrection, the most controversial issue that has aroused most scepticism. Today, many say, it is not without a strong historical connection ". Thus the debate will alsoinclude “the actuality of Jesus, emerging from a proficient history, which has effected us and still does, through Him, in the paradoxical form of the Cross and Resurrection."
"To say that Jesus is our contemporary - said Card. Ruini - means not simply to reassert his relevance, it says much more, namely that Jesus is our contemporary in his unique and unrepeatable historical events, so not just in memory, or in attempt to model our lives on his but in his reality. This is the position of faith, and that is what we measure ourselves by. " '' The goal is to reproduce this on a cultural level, to show that faith is not a leap of faith: of course, there is an element of free choice, but faith is a plausible and reasonable choice. "
Among the themes to be discussed, Jesus and the poor, Jesus and women, the fictional Jesus, Jesus in the literature and in the books of Benedict XVI on Jesus of Nazareth. The meeting will be opened by the president of the CEI, Card. Angelo Bagnasco. Among the interventions, those of Card. Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Card. Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, the director of AsiaNews, Father Bernardo Cervellera, who will interview the Cardinal of Hong Kong Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. And then the chief rabbi of Venice, Elia Enrico Richetti, the theologian Klaus Berger, the philosopher Jean-Luc Marion, film director Liliana Cavani, the singer Roberto Flack, journalists Paolo Mieli, Tony Capuozzo and Giuliano Ferrara.
