Monsignor Francesco Savino: "In the heart of the Gospel no one is excluded"
Sara's interview Spera* with Monsignor Francesco Savino
Monsignor Francesco Savino, bishop of Cassano allajonio and vice -president of the Italian episcopal conference, is a pastor attentive to the last and promoter of an evangelical welcome capable of include each person, in the sign of mercy and dignity.
It stands out for a pastoral vision deeply rooted in the Gospel, lived starting from the suburbs of existence. Attentive to the last, close to those who often remain on the margins of society and the Catholic Church, has made the heart of its ministry's fragile. His pastoral style is marked by authentic listening, a discreet cure and a concrete commitment for a welcome that does not exclude, but includes.
His testimony is that of a shepherd who believes in a Catholic Church capable of making his way off, who announces the Gospel starting from the faces, stories and wounds of those who often have no voice.
Among the distinctive features of his pastoral journey there is the constant attention to young people: he accompanies them with a non -tax, but generative but generative driving style, capable of enhancing the questions, doubts and concerns of their age. He has promoted paths of spiritual and social formation, encouraged volunteering and active citizenship experiences, and supported intergenerational and intercultural dialogue initiatives, always with the intention of returning to young trust, space and responsibility within the ecclesial community.
His testimony is that of a shepherd who believes in a catholic Church capable of making his way off, who announces the gospel Starting from the faces, stories and wounds of those who often have no voice. msgr. Savino Embodies an active and solidarity Vision of church towards the last. his Message is clear: to welcome without discrimination, transform the reception into a concrete presence, make marginalized central subjects of The gospel, defend the rights of all, in compliance with dignity and law.
It is therefore not surprising, the choice of Monsignor Savino to accept the request of theAssociation La Tenda di Gionata in chairing the Holy Mass scheduled for the next September 6, 2025, at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, (often called simply Church of Jesus), in Rome, as one of the central stages of jubilee pilgrimage to the Holy Doors of the association with Christians lGBT+, their family members and pastoral operators who accompany them.
We wanted to ask him some questions, to better understand how a more inclusive catholic church experience Can be built today, in line with the gospel message of reception and proximity, truly capable of including everyone.
Monsignor Savino, with an evangelical message that invites us to act as Christians, in everyday life, on the example of the parable of the 'good Samaritan', in which Christian love exceeds religious, social and ethnic boundaries, in which compassion is an active form of love - an implicit criticism of the religion lived in a sterile way - which 'form' assumes, in its opinion, this moment of sharing of the sharing. in the welcome of theAssociazione 'La tento di Gionata' and other similar realities?
In the beating heart of the Eucharist - which is the very heart of the Gospel - nobody is a foreigner, nobody is excluded, nobody is invisible. The broken bread on the altar knows no barriers of birth, language, social condition or path of life: it is total gift, which is offered to every man and every woman as a tangible sign of a mercy stronger than any prejudice.
Celebrate mass with La Tenda di Gionata and with all the realities that operate for dignity and inclusion, it means embodying - in the living flesh of the community - the parable of the good Samaritan. It means letting yourself be injured by the suffering and solitude of the other, bending to bundle its wounds, and not limiting yourself to looking from afar in the name of a purely ritual religion.
The Eucharist, in this sense, is a womb that welcomes, and not a fence that rejects; It is a house with always open doors, where the corner stone is love without condition. It is in the encounter of the faces and in the sharing of the bread that the Church finds its original vocation: to be not a fortress for a few, but tends for everyone, capable of inhabiting the suburbs of the soul and history.
That's why this moment is not only a liturgical celebration: it is a prophetic act, a sign that announces to the world that in the kingdom of God there are no "guests" and "hosts". There are only sons and daughters, summoned to the same canteen, transformed by the only love that saves.
How does this celebration fit into your pastoral vision of inclusive welcome?
This celebration is grafted like a golden thread in the living plot of my pastoral vision: a church that not only opens the doors, but itself makes its way to meet. The inclusive welcome is not for me an episodic gesture, but a posture of the heart and gaze: it is the breath of the Gospel itself, which recognizes a brother in every face, in each story a sacred page worthy of being read with respect.
Celebrate with La Tenda di Gionata it means making visible and concrete what I believe firmly: that the Christian community holds a source capable of quenching every thirsty of hope, blindfolding every wound of dignity, tending the hand without asking for entry tickets, without raising invisible walls of exclusion.
It is therefore not a question of "hosting" someone in the house of the Lord, but of recognizing that everyone is already full inhabitants. The Eucharist, the center of this celebration, thus becomes not the prize reserved for the few, but the bread of communion that reconstituted the dispersed human family. In this sign there is the prophecy of a church that lives not to keep a temple, but to be a living temple: where every stone is a face, each column is a story, and each door is open to the infinite embrace of God.
How do you believe that this event can constitute a strong and clear signal of change, already present, in itself - and more taken - in the message of Jesus, in relation to fraternal love, to the evangelical life that does not exclude anyone, and to the mercy that God gives to everyone, without exception?
A message of a love never conditioned by belonging or judgments but, rather, as an invitation to recognize, in every person - especially in the most fragile and marginalized, the very face of Christ?
This event, in its deepest essence, it is like a bell that sounds in expanse in the deafening silence of the exclusions: a clear, strong and irreversible signal that reminds us that the Gospel is not a manifesto for a few elected, but a love letter addressed to the entire human family. In his going tirelessly, Jesus in the dusty streets of Galilee, knocked every wall of belonging, took care of injuries without asking for credentials, sitting at the table of sinners and foreigners, showing that the love of the father knows no borders or conditions.
This celebration therefore arises in the luminous trail of that original gesture: announceing, with the burning language of concrete signs, that divine mercy is a river that flows towards everyone, and that no human dam can arrest. Welcoming the most fragile, the most marginalized, is not an act of optional benevolence, but a declaration of ecclesial identity: if the Church does not embrace these children, it is not the church of the Gospel.
In each loud face of tears, in every imploring look a little listening, we find the very reflection of Christ, sometimes hidden under veils of pain, but always alive in his inviolable dignity.
This event, therefore, is not limited to "speaking" of fraternal love - makes it visible, palpable, undeniable. It is an invitation, sweet but powerful, that lets our hands imitate those of Christ, who have never rejected those who approached, and that rather they have stretched to touch the wounds of the world to transform them into wounds of grace. And so, once again, the message is clear: in the heart of God the suburbs become the center because there are only loved children. And when the Church remembers this, the sky really opens on earth.
Monsignor, without taking for granted that he reads us know the importance, we would like to make a passage on the role of the Synod within the Catholic Church. The Synod, which contains in its most intrinsic sense the meaning of "journey together" is an assembly of bishops from all over the world, convened by the Pope to offer the possibility of listening to different experiences, cultures and challenges of the universal Church, and then discern, together, the best paths to follow.
What contribution did the Italian Synod have had this year in promoting greater attention and sensitivity towards the inclusion of all people, including the LGBT+community, within the life of the Catholic Church? Do not consider anachronistic that the evangelical message, already by nature, promoter of concepts such as equality, freedom, respect, humanity, justice and love, should still be talked about it?
The Synod of The italian church of these years has been, in my opinion, like a crossroads of paths in which the entire community of the faithful has collected the voices, concerns and hopes Of the People of God: a church that has bent to hear the whisper of the Excluded. "Walking together" is not mere rhetorical expression, but prophetic gesture, an authentic listening will of all the diversity that inhabit our ecclesial community.
In the plot of the Synod, the issue of inclusion - and in particular of the welcome of LGBT+ people - has found a much wider space than in the past: concrete proposals emerged, such as the establishment of a national prayer day on inclusion, the request for protection networks and awareness -raising campaigns against discrimination and harmful "therapies" and, above all, the transition from a pastoral "for" with " LGBT+, a sign of a new ecclesial awareness.
Of course, the Synod was not exempt from tensions and resistances: it was discussed animatedly, the comparison was not lacking, and the final document has reflected both the progress and the limits of a change still in place. However, what matters most is the breath of the spirit that has moved the waters, reminding everyone that the authentic synodality cannot evade the question of each person's inviolable dignity, the evangelical call to bring down every barrier.
The presence of pounding voices, especially from the base of the Church, who ask listening, equality and universal welcome - also for LGBT+ people and for their parents - shows that the evangelical seed of justice and free love sprouts where the community opens without fear.
It is anachronistic, you say well, having to reiterate what the Gospel has always proclaims: equal dignity, freedom, respect and mercy are the native alphabet of Christian life. Yet the path of the Church, while clashing with human limits, is called every day to renew its alliance with the last and wounded by history.
This year's Synod, despite the fatigue and contradictions, was an invitation to start again: to really become that tent that welcomes without condition, where the difference is not tolerated with paternism, but recognized as a gift, and in which the Church finds its true youth in the gospel lived, not only preached.
When the Church becomes a listening space, the merciful face of Christ, which has never stopped calling each one by name, embracing the mysterious beauty of every human heart capable of donation and altruism, is revealed in transparency: this is enough to recognize that the spirit blows where it wants.
Just over 20 days Are missing at Jubilee pilgrimage of the tent of Gionata with the Christians LGBT+, their family members and pastoral workers who accompany them.
We are preparing. Each in its own way. But one thing is certain: we are getting together: with fears, questions, desires. With the desire to be there, for the first time or forever. It is more than an event. It is more than a trip. It's home.
* Sara hopes, born in 1986, she graduated in Communication Sciences - Mass Media Address - at the University of Siena. For over nine years he has been working in the communication sector, taking care of creating specialist editorial contents, keeping institutional relations and events for the world of company and the third sector.
His experience ranges from issues such as disability, public construction, associations, protection of minors, environment, health and legality. He currently holds the role of press office for a well -known Italian company active in the plant sector based in Novara. He firmly believes, in fact, that every reality, productive or associative that is, if aware of his role in the community, can contribute concretely to enhancing each person.
>Official info on the jubilee pilgrimage of "La Tenda di Gionata and other associations"
