DON CAMILLO, PEPPONE AND THE SMILING CRUCIFIX

Egidio Bandini, journalist and President of Gruppo Amici di Giovannino Guareschi; Enrico Beruschi, director and actor; Gianni Govi, actor and director; Eugenio Martani, clarinetist; Corrado Medioli, accordionist; Giancarlo Plessi, parish priest of Besenzone

It may seem strange, but Don Camillo’s crucifix smiles—and does so more often than one might think. It is a disarming smile, an absolute smile. The smile of God that, as Roberto Vecchioni sings, is “… because ideas are like the voices of a mother we thought we had lost, and they are like the smile of God in this spit of a universe.” And as Father Gianni Fanzolato reminds us, “… because ultimately, man is the true smile of God.” Giovannino Guareschi understood this profoundly. The only question that remains is whether we are still able to see it—that smile of God, of Jesus, who from the height of the Cross expresses, with a smile, His infinite mercy.