The “todos, todos, todos” di Francesco teaches in Naples. The password of Dad for a Church that preaches inclusion without distinction has been applied to Te Deum of the end of the year in the Neapolitan cathedral presided over by the archbishop and new cardinal Domenico “Mimmo” Battaglia. During the ceremony, testimonies of activities considered functional to the construction of peace and social balance and selected in each deanery were read. Among them, the experience of algbt association.
The testimony
Thus, in front of the faithful gathered for the Te Deum In the Cathedrala representative of the “i Ken” association also spoke, introducing himself as “cultural stimulus” in order to raise awareness on issues such as “full exercise of freedom of homosexual expression” And “reserves particular attention to rights relating to education, training and training”. A non-profit organization The i Ken association was founded in Naples in 2005 and has sat at the technical tables of the National Anti-Racial Discrimination Office (UNAR) since 2012. Cristiano Cimmino, representative of the association, presented the association as one to the faithful “lay pastoral community” born from a “group of homosexual and transgender people” and praised the “ground of dialogue between the Church, association and institutions” to create “safe spaces in schools so that no one feels judged“. In addition to activity in schools against “homotransphobic bullying”Cimmino also recalled the commitment in favor of those migrants “forced to flee their lands due to sexual orientation and gender identity” and the collaboration with CGIL Napoli. The representative of “the Kens” also spoke about the projects “This house is not a hotel – Rainbow Center Naples” And “Omovies Film Festival”, event dedicated to homosexual cinema and transgender.
Rainbow pride
The space granted to a representative of the LGBT culture association during the celebration presided over by the new cardinal Domenico “Mimmo” Battaglia filled the Neapolitan rainbow world with pride. The portal LGBT Channel TV he noted that “for the first time, an LGBTQIA+ voice (…) has found space in such a solemn context”. For activists “what happened (…) is not just a celebration. It was a epochal step“. The association “the Kens” he had already shown that he appreciated the archbishop of Naples who had received several of his representatives since his inauguration. It is no coincidence that when Battaglia was created a cardinal by the Pope, the association released a statement expressing “great joy” and mentioned the “strong commitment in dialogue with the LGBTQ+ community” of the new member of the sacred college.
In his homily for the Te DeumBattaglia asked God to break “in us the fear of change” and he addressed Him like this: “friend, companion, husband of the Church and of humanity” entrusting him
“the new time you give us”.
In recent months in the diocese of Naples, meetings on the theme of rainbow pastoral care have been held in some parishes which have sparked protests from the association Pro Life.