October 2025
Rimini, Wednesday, August 27, 2025 – “We are very grateful for this Meeting, which has offered spaces for dialogue and hope in a world unfortunately ever more full of conflict.” This was the comment from Bernhard Scholz, president of the Rimini Meeting, regarding the 46th edition of the event.
Inspired by the title “In the desert places we will build with new bricks,” experiences and perspectives emerged to address the deserts of our time: solitude and social fragmentation, conflicts and wars, and the environmental and economic crisis.
The common thread of peace was palpable right from the opening session with Israeli and Palestinian mothers, who have transformed the pain of loss into a path of reconciliation, and from the presence of witnesses like Hiroshima survivors Toshiyuki Mimaki and Masao Tomonaga. The reflection on Europe was also a central theme, with the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Raffaele Fitto, Mario Draghi, and Enrico Letta. The meetings on the future of democracy with Patrick Deneen and Joseph Weiler and on the impact of Christians on social life with Luke Bretherton and Pierpaolo Donati were also significant, as were the dialogues with personalities such as Javier Cercas, Colum McCann, Katerina Gordeeva, and Diane Foley.
Institutional participation was very strong, with the presence of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, numerous ministers of the Italian Government, Regional presidents, and members of parliament from all parties. On the ecclesial front, the presence of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was of great significance, as was that of the president and secretary of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference), Matteo Maria Zuppi and Giuseppe Baturi, respectively, as well as bishops from areas of tension and conflict around the world, such as Syria, Ukraine, South Sudan, and Algeria.
In terms of performances, great success was enjoyed by the opening show The Rock, a theatrical and musical tribute to T.S. Eliot with Sergio Castellitto; Saint Augustine’s Confessions, performed by Alessandro Preziosi; and Giacomo Poretti’s show La fregatura di avere un’anima. Equally well-attended were the concert by The Sun, the tribute to Claudio Chieffo, and the Meeting Music Contest, which gave visibility to young artists.
As for the numbers, 800,000 attendees were registered. The 150 conferences with about 550 Italian and international speakers and the 17 performances were almost constantly sold out, as were the “Villaggio Ragazzi Yoga” (Yoga Kids’ Village) and the Enel Sport Village, which welcomed tens of thousands of children and young people. The exhibitions were also visited by several thousand more visitors than in 2024. The involvement of partner companies, over 150 of them, also grew, contributing not only financially but also in terms of culture and project development. Live broadcasts of the main events were covered by numerous national and international media outlets, with a greater media impact than in previous years. The contribution of the three thousand volunteers from Italy and around the world was, as always, crucial, with 60% of them under the age of thirty.
These figures and attendance numbers reinforce the idea of the Meeting as an increasingly recognized place for dialogue, collaboration, and community building, as Pope Leo XIV recalled in his message: “In today’s deserts, we can build together with new bricks, concrete signs of hope and peace.”
The 47th edition of the Meeting will be held at the Rimini Expo Centre from August 21 to 26, 2026, with the title taken from the last verse of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy:
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle
(The Love which moves the sun and the other stars)
