SW News: In a letter published on Friday and signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis urged participation in the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, also known as the "Rimini Meeting". The Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples has been held in late August in the northern Italian seaside resort of Rimini every year since 1980. The topic for this year is "Human existence is an inexhaustible friendship."

The Communion and Liberation Movement hosts the annual Rimini gathering, which gathers a sizable crowd of believers who enjoy listening to a range of influential people address important topics. For individuals, families, and kids, it also provides a variety of pavilions and activities.

The sorrowful awareness of the world's ongoing wars marked the opening of Pope Francis' statement for the occasion this year.

The Pope admitted that the gathering in Rimini is taking place at a time when "war and divisions sow resentment and fear in hearts, and others who are different are often perceived as rivals."

"Global and pervasive communication causes this widespread attitude to become a mentality, differences to appear as symptoms of hostility and a kind of epidemic of enmity to occur." In this light, he claimed, the theme of the gathering in Rimini seemed brave "because it goes against the trend, in a time marked by individualism and indifference, which generate loneliness and many forms of discarding others.”

The Holy Father praised the virtue of genuine friendship, which broadens the heart, in his address to young people.

"Faithful friends," the Pope thought, "are a reflection of the Lord's affection, His consolation, and His loving presence."

The Pope further noted that one of the defining characteristics of his papacy and magisterium has been the attitude of openness to the other as a brother or sister.

In a reference to his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, the Pope emphasized the value of social friendship and defended it as a remedy "even in the most dramatic situations - even in the face of war - 'when it is genuine [...] within a society it is a condition of possibility for true universal openness.'"

Pope Francis expressed his wish that the Meeting would continue to advance an inclusive and welcoming culture of encounter.

"May each of the participants learn a little bit about how to approach others in the manner of Jesus, who always stretches out His hand, always seeks to lift, to make people heal, to make them happy, to make them encounter God."

The Pope gave everyone attending the Rimini gathering his Apostolic Blessing and expressed his hope that it would foster social interaction.