Born out of the collaboration between the Diocese of Rome and the Sisters of Charity, who open the garden of the General House to raise awareness of living an ecological conversion.
Just a few steps away from the congested traffic of Rome’s capital city, a true oasis of silence and greenery is opening up, which, as part of the Jubilee initiatives, and also afterwards, will be open to pilgrims who are interested in living an ecological-spiritual experience to deepen their understanding of the contents of the Encyclical Laudato Si’ through nature itineraries, prayer meetings and even short retreats.
The twelve-hectare park will be open from Friday to Sunday. Pilgrims, who will be guided by religious and lay people, can book individually or in groups.
‘In 2021, we have accepted the Pope’s invitation to serve creation,’ says sister Mirna Farah, in charge of the project, who yesterday guided the first visitors inside the park on the “Adam’s Path”, a meditative journey in four stages accompanied by readings from Genesis. Participants entered into a relationship with creation through a multi-sensory experience. Not only with sight and hearing, but also with touch, touching the trees, plants and flowers.
Various itineraries are planned: a theological one on the vocation of man, an artistic ecological one for young people preparing for Confirmation, a spiritual botanical one, and a spiritual ecological one with sensory experiences.
‘We are looking for animators to accompany visitors to discover the park,’ emphasises Maria Grazia, volunteer coordinator. ’We want to train the young people of Rome in this ecological spirituality. Young people can join us with flexible availability. We will make a monthly calendar of guided tours and the young people will be able to choose which ones to join, making their talents available’.
The inauguration of the garden had opened with a Mass celebrated in the park by Monsignor Francesco Pesce, pastoral coordinator for the Centre sector and director of the diocesan office.
‘Places like this teach us to promote an environmentalism that is linked to social justice,’ he pointed out in his homily. ’They help us to marvel at beauty, at gratuitousness, to listen and to give free voice to dreams, as Pope Francis would say. Only in this way can we realise that the wonderful time of which the prophets speak is already present: it is God’s today. The Church’s task is precisely this: to testify that what the prophets say is true, is Gospel.
And so concluded Oliviero Bettinelli, deputy director of the Office for Social Pastoral Care of the Rome diocese: ‘The garden will help us reflect on integral ecology and put the Word back at the centre, at a time in history when the connection between social reality and the environment is increasingly evident. The environmental crisis,’ he pointed out, “is the fruit of a social crisis, as the Pope teaches”.
