May 2026
On 14 May 2026, in the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, the diocesan phase of the cause for beatification and canonization of don Luigi Giussani came to a close. The documentation collected will now be sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. During the testimonial phase, around 80 testimonies were gathered on the spirituality and reputation for holiness of the founder of Communion and Liberation.
Statement by President Bernhard Scholz
“From the very beginning of the Meeting, don Giussani always accompanied the people who founded it and then guided it,” said the President of the Meeting, Bernhard Scholz. “We are deeply grateful to him for this closeness and for the encouragement that enabled the Meeting to grow as a place capable of fostering friendship among peoples, cultures and religions, and of promoting dialogue with everyone on the most decisive questions concerning education, social life, culture, economics and politics. His certainty became fruitful in the Meeting’s tireless openness to the challenges that the world presents to us.”
Don Giussani’s addresses at the Meeting
Don Luigi Giussani had a deep and enduring relationship with the Rimini Meeting. He was present in 1982 during the visit of John Paul II (in the photo).
His first major address in person took place in 1983, with the meeting “The Freedom of God”. On that occasion, Giussani placed at the centre one of the most important themes of his proposal: human freedom is born from the relationship with the Mystery, not from self-sufficiency.
A second fundamental address was the one in 1985, “God Needs Human Beings”. Here too, the idea clearly emerged that God acts in history through the freedom and responsibility of persons.
In 1993 he again spoke in person, with a concluding greeting after the meeting with the President of the Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
Alongside the addresses in person, there were letters, interviews, prefaces and greetings by video link. In 1982, for example, he wrote a letter after John Paul II’s address at the Meeting; in 1999, an interview with him by Luigi Amicone was read by Emilia Guarnieri at the conclusion of the Meeting.
The concluding greetings of the 2001-2004 editions
In his final years, the bond continued through the concluding greetings by video link: in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, with addresses of rare intensity and depth of content, even as his physical strength was declining.
