The Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

: ), more commonly known as the Rimini Meeting (

: ), is an annual lay

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

festival held every year in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in the last week of August. Inaugurated in 1980, the Meeting is the flagship event of

Communion and Liberation Communion and Liberation (, often shortened to CL), since 1980 officially Fraternity of Communion and Liberation (), it is an international Catholic movement founded in 1954 by Fr. Luigi Giussani as Student Youth (), with the aim of presentin ...

, an international

association of the faithful In the Catholic Church, an association of the Christian faithful or simply association of the faithful (), sometimes called a public association of the faithful, is a group of baptized persons, clerics or laity or both together, who, according to ...

. It is a significant event in domestic politics, attracting high-profile guest speakers, and receives notable coverage in the Italian press.

Overview

The Rimini Meeting is held annually in the last week of August at

Rimini Fiera Rimini Fiera is a major exhibition centre in Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. Completed in 2001 and expanded in 2018, the complex is set in sixteen pavilions with of exhibit floor and a dedicated railway station. Rimini ...

. The weeklong festival includes talks, debates, workshops, exhibitions, sporting, musical and literary events, and other sessions. Each edition revolves around a theme that is chosen to inspire open reflection and dialogue. In 2022, the Rimini Meeting attracted 80,000 visitors, with a further 720,000 online attendees.

Venue and organisation

The first edition of the Rimini Meeting took place in 1980, at the site of the old Rimini Fiera. The Meeting moved to the new Rimini Fiera after its completion in 2001. In March 2008, the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples Association, which was constituted in December 1980 to organise the Meeting, became a foundation. Over 3,000 volunteers work during the Meeting to stage, operate, and dismantle it.

Political and cultural significance

The Rimini Meeting is a significant event in Italian culture and politics, often attracting high-profile guest speakers and notable press coverage. Previous speakers include

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...

Staffan de Mistura Staffan de Mistura (born 25 January 1947) is an Italian- Swedish diplomat, United Nations official and former member of the Italian government. After a 40-year career in various United Nations agencies, he was appointed Undersecretary of State f ...

, and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

. The 2022 Meeting included an early debate in the run-up to the

2022 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2022 United Nations Security Council election * 2022 national electoral calendar * 2022 loca ...

and was attended by figures from major political parties:

Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy since 2022. She is the first woman to hold the office. A member of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Chamber of Deputies since 2006, s ...

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...

Enrico Letta Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (), is the head of government of the Italy, Italian Republ ...

Ettore Rosato Ettore Rosato (born 28 July 1968) is an Italian politician, member of the Chamber of Deputies, and formerly leader of the Democratic Party in the Chamber. Political career Rosato was born in Trieste in 1968. He started his interest in politics ...

Antonio Tajani Antonio Tajani (; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022. He served as President of the Europe ...

, and

Carlo Calenda Carlo Calenda (born April 9, 1973 in Rome) is an Italian business executive and politician. Since October 13, 2022, he has served as a Senator of the Republic and, since February 20, 2022, as Secretary of ''Action (Italian political party), Azione ...

. Ten ministers of the

Meloni government The Meloni government is the 68th and current government of the Italian Republic, the first headed by Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy, who is also the first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister of Italy. The government was swor ...

attended the 2023 edition, including Salvini, Tajani, and

Giancarlo Giorgetti Giancarlo Giorgetti (; born 16 December 1966) is an Italian politician and prominent member of the League, of which he became deputy secretary in 2016. Since October 2022, Giorgetti has served as Minister of Economy and Finance in the governme ...

. The President of the Republic,

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician and jurist who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. He is the longest-serving president in the history of the Italian Republic. Since Giorgio Napolitano's death in 20 ...

, spoke on the final day of the Meeting. In previous years, national television channels, including the public broadcaster

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

, have broadcast some sessions of the Rimini Meeting, including the Sunday Mass on

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

, RAI's flagship television channel.

Fraud investigation

In December 2012, the public prosecutor's office in Rimini charged the general manager, lead administrator and an account of the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples Foundation with

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

, and seized one million euros from the foundation. An investigation by the

Guardia di Finanza The Guardia di Finanza (; G. di F. or GdF; or ) is an Italian militarised law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, instead of the Ministry of Defence (Italy), Ministry of Defence ...

found that the foundation had presented false loss-making balance sheets to obtain 310,000 euros of public funding for the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Rimini Meeting: such funds can only be disbursed to organisations not making profits. The public agencies involved included Emilia-Romagna's regional council, Rimini's tourist marketing agency, the local Chamber of Commerce, and the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

. The group was acquitted in March 2016.

References

External links

Official site of Meeting for friendship among peoples
{{Lay Catholic spirituality Festivals in Italy Communion and Liberation