“The dimension of pilgrimage, which in some ways characterizes the life and mission of the men and women of the Armed Forces, marks the journey of faith of each of you: so that, in the toil and in the joy, the Jubilee may be a privileged time of growth of communion with God and of brotherhood, in the common service to the defense of human life, to justice and to peace”. This was stated by Monsignor Santo Marcianò, ordinary military archbishop for Italy, during the solemn Eucharistic celebration that the military bishop presided over in the church of the “Millevoi” base in Shama, in southern Lebanon.
On this occasion, Monsignor Marcianò met the “blue helmets” of the Italian contingent engaged in the UNIFIL mission (the United Nations force deployed on the border with the State of Israel) and began the opening rite of the Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Francis with the bull “Spes non confundit”.
The military ordinary for Italy was welcomed upon his arrival at Beirut airport by Major General Stefano Messina, commander of UNIFIL's Western sector, who focused on the centrality of the mission and the pressing need to carry out every effort necessary to avert the spectre of new and old rivalries in a region crucial to the balance of power in the Middle East.
A peculiar sign of the solemn opening rite of the Jubilee Year, which the Archbishop celebrated together with Don Pietro Murgia, military chaplain of the contingent, Father Mario Murru, director of the Salesian community in Lebanon and Don Santo Battaglia, his personal secretary, was the short pilgrimage with the processional entrance behind the cross inside the church of the base dedicated to "Maria Decor Carmeli and Saint John XXIII Pope", one of the nine places of worship indicated by the military ordinary as "Jubilee places" in the theaters of operation abroad.
“We celebrate the Jubilee in this church, consecrated a few years ago in a moment that saw people of different languages, cultures, religions praying together, gathered by affection towards the Italian military and, certainly, by the powerful intercession and testimony of peace of Saint John XXIII, to whom it is dedicated”, continued Marcianò in his homily. "This Jubilee, by will of Pope Francis, is the Jubilee of hope. It is therefore - he added - in hope that the joy of being here together today must be read, welcomed and interpreted. It is a hope founded on the love that Jesus gives us and that you have been able to give in these months, with your whole life, sowing the hope of justice, reconciliation and peace".
During the meeting with the Italian military, the prelate then explained the further reasons and meaning of his visit: “I am here among you to share the experience of being in the precariousness of a very difficult mission, to live the logic of solidarity, which is the ability to carry with you the pain and suffering of those around us, the difficulties, the fears, the anxieties and the desires”.
After lunch in the base canteen, the military ordinary moved to Beirut, where he met with the military of the Italian Bilateral Military Mission in Lebanon (MIBIL), the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon (MTC4L) and the Italian Embassy in Lebanon.
