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Some call it the United Nations in Trastevere. When Andrea Riccardi founded the Community of Sant'Egidio with a circle of high school friends in Rome in 1968, he did not have big plans. The group would pray together and aid the poor and in that way help improve the human condition at least a tiny bit. "The periphery of Rome was like a Third World city," Riccardi recalls...
Despite such sweet and sour experiences (including one in 1988 that produced the memorable tabloid headline GAYS PROTEST VATICAN BIGGY), the Pope likes New York and what it stands for. "I think he's really fascinated by the city and what it represents," says Raphaela Schmid, a Rome-based German with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who knows him. "It's about people being two things at once, like Italian Americans or Chinese Americans. He's interested in that idea of coexistence...
Ratzinger's next American exposure came during the momentous Second Vatican Council in Rome, from 1962 to '65. Then in his early 30s, Ratzinger was a theological wunderkind who made his name behind the scenes. The U.S. delegation, meanwhile, was embroiled in a contentious debate over religious freedom. Conservatives opposed it: states must sponsor faith, and the faith should be Roman Catholic. The Americans argued that religious liberty was morally imperative and--from experience--that in a multireligious state, Catholicism could best thrive when the government could not play favorites. The council sided with them, and Ratzinger, anticipating a world...
...Mayor Mario Melfi, a former union leader, implemented a municipal program under the grand slogan: "Amendolara wants to be in Italy, in Europe, in peace." Funded by $3 million a year in local property taxes and $630,000 in revenue from traffic tickets - plus additional grants from Rome and Brussels - the town has offered financial incentives and improved infrastructure to attract private businesses. The mayor's program lured the town's first local bank and four-star hotel, promoted the uncovering of pre-Roman archaeological treasures, and led to the establishment of scuba and sailing schools. Thanks to local efforts...
...public resources flowing in - Calabria alone gets $95 million a year to fund the socially useful jobs program - and claim victory when their area continues to be classified as backward. That label qualifies the Mezzogiorno for $4.2 billion in European Union aid, as well as another $12.8 billion from Rome's coffers. "Politicians have an interest in maintaining the status quo," he says. "There is no clear road map for bringing real development...