“Democracy is a fragile and precious asset, which is not preserved alone but asks to be lived and regenerated every day. On the occasion of the next regional elections, we feel the duty to address a strong and clear appeal to the ecclesial and civil communities of Calabria: participation is not an accessory, but a task that appeals to the consciousness of each, is not a tired rite, but an act of collective regeneration”. It is the message of the Episcopal Calabra conference on the occasion of the 2025 regional elections.
“The recent journey of our regional church – continues the text issued by the CEC – urged us to rediscover some decisive priorities: everyone’s commitment to the transformation of society, the attention to those who remain on the margins, the construction of a solidarity citizenship, the centrality of the common good as a criterion of judgment. This is the heart of a vision that pushes to build, together, the city of men and women of good will, in the logic of full -meter, Able to keep together development and justice, freedom and responsibility, rights and duties.
“At the social weeks of Trieste (2024), Pope Francis – it is highlighted by the CEC – used a powerful image: the crisis of democracy as a wounded heart. A heart that suffers when corruption and illegality prevail, when politics becomes self -referential, unable to listen and service. A heart that falls ill when the culture of the waste and whole bands of the population – poor, old people, marginalized every time someone is excluded, the whole social body brings the wound.
“On that same occasion, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, asked questions that touch us closely:” Can you think of contentment that a democracy is imperfect? To content yourself with a low intensity democracy? Can one think of surrendering to the growth of an absenteeism of citizens from public affairs? Can a democracy exist without the consistent exercise of the role of the voters? ” And he admonished not to confuse the placing with participating, remembering that “at the heart of democracy there are people, relationships, communities” “.
“These words illuminate our responsibility as citizens and as Christians. Abstention and indifference – underlines the CEC – are never neutral: they always end up weighing on the weakest and deliver the future in the hands of a few. Participating, on the other hand, means taking care of the heart of our land, contributing with their own vote to the construction of a more just, supportive and fraternal Calabria”.
For this reason, the CEC invites everyone “to live the regional elections not as a formal fulfillment, but as a concrete occasion of freedom and responsible choice. Democracy feeds on the voice of each one: to choose means to affect the present and open the possibility of the future. There is no freedom without choice, there is no common good without participation. Whoever gives up choosing to renounce to build their own future: it is a luxury that our land, already pulled by inequalities and forced migrations. In no way to afford “.