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Pope at Rimini: «Before Borders Stand Persons» — CL Urged to Dismantle Unjust Power From Within

Pope at Rimini: «Before Borders Stand Persons» — CL Urged to Dismantle Unjust Power From Within

Pope Leone urged Communion and Liberation at Rimini to confront unjust power relationships and free labor from the idolatry of profit.

Pope Leone visited the Communion and Liberation meeting in Rimini and urged participants to confront the «unjust power relationships» that generate poverty, inequality, war and environmental damage. According to accounts of the event, Leone was received with sustained applause as he called for «liberating coexistence from suspicion, culture from domination, education from ideology, labor from the idolatry of profit». --- THE CONTEXT --- Communion and Liberation is an Italian Catholic movement that exercised direct political influence through figures like Giulio Andreotti and Silvio Berlusconi in previous decades. In recent years, under the previous papacy, CL has faced internal pressure toward reform. Leone has encouraged the organization to avoid self-referentiality and expand its bonds beyond narrow affiliations. --- THE FACTS --- Leone visited exhibition pavilions at the meeting, including displays dedicated to Saint Augustine, where he was received by ecclesiastical authorities. The pontiff stated that by «recognizing themselves in the dignity of God's children,» persons can «understand one another, listen and become friends.» He emphasized that «before borders, definitions and institutions there are always persons.» The only previous Pope to participate in this meeting was John Paul II in 1982. --- THE POSITIONS --- Leone urged CL members to «put themselves at stake» and contest forces that would separate them from sisters and brothers of diverse cultures and origins, especially the poorest. CL itself acknowledged a «certain loss of influence» over preceding years, which the movement describes as an opportunity to «value more deeply the power of the Gospel.» No documented response from secular or political sectors to these calls has been recorded. --- WHAT REMAINS UNKNOWN --- Details of what internal reforms CL is pursuing and how it measures impact on vulnerable communities remain unpublished. Figures on current youth and worker participation in the movement are absent. It is unclear how CL will operationalize the papal exhortation to reject the «idolatry of profit» within its own economic structures. --- UNANSWERED QUESTIONS --- • What concrete mechanisms does CL propose to «unmask» unjust power relationships within its own institutional structures? • How does the movement reconcile its history of direct political influence with the current priority of serving the poor without institutional intermediaries? • What response have business organizations linked to CL offered to the papal appeal against the idolatry of profit? --- EPM ANALYSIS --- CL faces the paradox of an institution claiming «conversion» while acknowledging loss of leverage. The decisive variable is whether the movement will achieve concrete actions in labor education and solidarity finance, or remain trapped in aspirational rhetoric. Potential losers are structures profiting from «business of death»; potential winners are communities demanding institutional accountability. 📌 📌 EPM Take: ** In EPM's view, the papal discourse marks an institutional opening toward accountability on corporate power, but its credibility hinges on verifiable CL action. The reference to past reform failures within the movement—notably Formigoni—suggests that genuine conversion requires transparency and discipline mechanisms not yet visible in the account. Without those guarantees, the call to «unmask injustice» risks dissolving into well-intentioned language disconnected from measurable worker and community protection. ** Leone proposes a pivot: from direct political influence toward cultural transformation from within. Erick Prometeo Media
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