Abbe pierre – Wikipedia

Father Pierre , pseudonym of Henri Antoine Grouès (Lyon, 5 August 1912 – Paris, 22 January 2007), was a French Catholic presbyter, partisan, politician and founder in 1949 of the Compagnons d’Emmaüs, an organization for the poor and refugees.

Years [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Born in an Angled Lyon family active in the silk trade, fifth of eight children, spent his childhood in Irigny. At twelve he met François Chabbey and, with his father, entered the club of “Watcue Hospital” , where the members (mainly belonging to the average bourgeoisie) devoted part of their free time to shave the poor. Henri thus found himself accompanying his father among the dirroccades and dirty houses of the poorest neighborhoods of Lyon (such as the worker from Rambaud), ^[first] to shave the poor. In this way, the very young Henri took more and more awareness of the situation of the weaker classes of the city and this made him grow the desire to put himself at the service of the poor and suffering.

Towards the fifteen years he decided that he would no longer accompany his father in the work of Hospital watchers : During the week, after school, together with others, he used to be in small jobs. On Sunday he then went to the suburbs of the city, where they tried to make the priest ibex more comfortable, finally leaving them the money earned during the week. ^[first] He studied in the college of Jesuits of his hometown, and entered, still a teenager, in the scout movement of the Scouts of France , where the “meditabondo beaver” was nicknamed ( Meditative beaver ).

The vocation [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

In 1928, at the age of sixteen he has what he himself called “love at first sight with God” during a trip to Assisi, at the convent his prisons, he warned his vocation for monacal life strong. ^[2] Henri decided to enter the Franciscan order of the Capuchin minor friars. The parents, proud, albeit aware of the cost of the child’s decision, did not hinder him. ^[first] So in 1931, after giving up his part of the family heritage and distributed the poor what he possessed, he took the votes: he entered the convent of Crest in 1932, where he remained until 1938 studying theology and philosophy.

In the order he assumed the name of “Friar Philippe”. Ordained priest in 1938, in 1939 he was forced to abandon life in the convent for health reasons, since some infections to the lungs he suffered made it impossible to continue the rigid Franciscan life. He then moved to Isère, becoming chaplain of the La Mure hospital; Later he passed to an orphanage in Côte-Saint-André. After being ordered priest on August 24, 1938, he became treated at the diocese of the Cathedral of Grenoble, in April 1939 (a few months before the invasion of Poland): in the same year he will be appointed vicar of the same. ^[3]

War and resistance [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Following the outbreak of the Second World War he was enrolled in the French army as a non -commissioned officer (Troop rail transport), in December 1939. According to his official biography, starting from 1942 he helped some Jews sought by the Nazis to repair in Switzerland e in Algeria, providing them for falsified documents. In particular, he gave his help to many Jewish citizens following the raid Vel’d’Hiv roundup of July 1942. In that period he favored the escape of numerous persecuted politicians, including (in 1942) the younger brother of General De Gaulle, Jacques, sick and sought by the Gestapo, and his wife, who took refuge in Swiss territory.

Often it was Henri himself, acting as a “alpine guide” who personally accompanied, through the mountains of Chamonix, the illegal immigrants safe in Switzerland, or by making them go to the Iberian land through the Pyrenees. ^{[first] [2]} During the war he participated in the creation of partisan brigades in the area of ​​the Massicci del Vercors and Chartreuse, in which he became one of the main leaders of the French resistance (Maquis). In clandestinity he assumed various pseudonyms, the last of which of Abbé Pierre.
In Grenoble, who was one of the main centers of the Resistance during the conflict, he managed, at the same time as his partisan activity, to continue to help the escape abroad of Jews, Poles and persecuted politicians. ^[4] Also in Grenoble he created the first refuge for those who tried to escape the forced labor that the Compulsory labor service (Sto), born, under the Republic of Vichy, from the collaboration of the Nazis with Pierre Laval.

He also founded the clandestine newspaper Independent patriotic union . The Abbé Pierre was arrested twice as belonging to the Resistance Movement, one of which in 1944 by the Nazi police, the Gestapo, in Cambo-Les-Bains, in the Atlantic Pyrenees: he was still freed shortly after and was able to pass through Spain And Gibraltar, reach the troops of free France of General De Gaulle, allocated to Algeria. In North Africa he became chaplain of the French Navy on the war ship “Jean Bart”, stationed at Casablanca. Having become one of the protagonists and symbols of the French resistance, he was awarded the war cross with bronze palm trees and the “resistance medal”. Like other members of the Resistance, the experience during the Second World War touched him deeply, making him acquire the awareness that the law should safeguard human rights, and that, in case this was not guaranteed, it was necessary to advocate a campaign of civil disobedience to the aim to achieve these goals.

Politics [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The priest-deployed [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

After the war, many of the leaders of the partisan movement decided to give themselves to politics. So the Abbé Pierre, following the advice of the entourage of De Gaulle and with the approval of the Archbishop of Paris, he was elected deputy and participated in two constituent assemblies (1945 and 1946). The Abbé Pierre was deputy, elected for the Department of Meurthe and Mosella, first as independent in the lists of the Popular Republican Movement (MRP), and the second time as a member in all respects of the party. The choice of the MRP was mainly due to the fact that in its rows there were much of the Christian-democratic members of the French Resistance.

He became vice -president of the world confédération, a universal federalist movement, co -founded in 1947 with Lord Boyd Orr. ^[2] He was also co -founder (together with the writers Albert Camus and André Gide) of the Support Committee to Garry Davis, a “citizen of the world” who raised his passport in front of the United States Embassy to protest nationalism. In 1945 he promoted a meeting between the two philosophers Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit (who was not however in good relations with the Roman Curia) who invented the concept of noosphere, and Nikolaj Berdjaev, inviting them both in his home. Three years later, in ’48, he went to Princeton, where he met Albert Einstein, with whom he discussed the “three nuclear explosions” and a future pacifist movement for world nuclear disarmament.

Seven years later this process will take a concrete form with the presentation to the world public opinion of the Russell-Einstein manifesto which, despite having been subsequently presented (9 July 1955) to the death of Einstein (who died in April of the same year), He had come in the context of a campaign for nuclear disarmament that had had the same German scientist among the promoters. In 1949 ^[2] He presented the national assembly (together with André Philip) a bill for the recognition of conscientious objection.

Meanwhile, from 1946 to 1951, he was part of the French National Assembly, first in the group of the Popular Republican Movement and subsequently in the Social Christian Group of the League of the Young Republic, created in 1912 by Marc Sangnier. The abandonment of the MRP (April 28, 1950) was due to a complaint towards the political and social position of the party that the Abbé Pierre externalized in a letter entitled “Why I leave the MRP” (“Because I leave the MRP”). The trigger of this contrast between the positions of the Abbé Pierre and his party was the bloody accident that cost the death at the worker Édouard Mazé. Mazé was killed by the police shots in Brest, on April 17, 1950, during a demonstration against the Indochine war and misery.

The “Loi Scélérate”: the abandonment of the assembly [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

His experience in the League of the young Republic was however short: in 1951, before the end of his electoral mandate, he decided to end his political career, returning to his first vocation: the help of the homeless and the poor. The abandonment of Parliament was decided by ABBè in opposition to an electoral law that many at the time defined “scam”. In that year, in fact, the national assembly approved, with the only majority of government, law no. 519/1951: this electoral law in the majority sense allowed to the list or winning coalition at a district level of having the totality of the seats assigned in the district. This reform was seen by many parts of French politics as a real “Lois de Combat”, ^[5] promulgated by the government (9 May 1951) to take advantage of the imminent political elections (17 June 1951).

This law was strongly opposed by the oppositions, especially the communist one, ^[6] who not surprisingly defined it as “Loi Scélérate”, accusing it of having the main aim of reducing the communist parliamentary representation.
Pierre also opposed the approval of the law strenuously, and so for protest he left the national assembly. It should be noted that the law itself and the opposition they argued were very similar to what happened in Italy in ’53 for the approval of the electoral law nº 148/1953 (famous as “scam law”).

The activity outside Parliament [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Despite having abandoned the parliamentary activity, the Abbé Pierre never completely abandoned politics: he took a position several times on several topical problems, denouncing and attacking decisions that he considered unjust. He also used his influence on the mass media (being very popular) to pay attention to the causes that he himself advocated. When, during the fifties, the movement of decolonization began to emerge slowly in many regions of the world, he committed himself in this sense, meeting politicians and holding various meetings and conferences ^[2] international. Of particular importance are the meeting with the Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba, who tried to convince to obtain the independence of his country without using violence, the Colombian priest Camilo Torres (one of the fathers of the theology of liberation), who asked him for help to cope with the criticisms of the Colombian clergy towards “workers’ priests.

He met, even if for different reasons, the President of the United States Eisenhower (1955) and the King of Morocco Muhammad V (1956). In 1962 he spent a few months in Béni Abbès, in the Algerian region of the Bechar, where Charles de Foucauld had settled. He was called in India in 1971 by the socialist Jayaprakash Narayan to represent, together with the Human Rights League ( Human Rights League ), France in the debate on the question of refugees. Subsequently Indira Gandhi invited him to face the problem of the refugees of Bengala, and the Abbé founded the communities of Emmaus in Bangladesh; In India he also had the opportunity to meet Jawaharlal Nehru. In general, the Abbé assumed progressive positions, never had any reverential fear towards the authorities, both political and religious (especially the Vatican): he did not hesitate to fiercely criticize the situations that seemed unjust to him.

His frankness and clarity of positions, without ambiguity of any kind, caused him many admirers but also many detractors. His “political” campaigns were based on events, strong messages spread by the mass media, gestures of civil disobedience, hunger strikes and other methods of nonviolent struggle. He also knew how to perform in extreme gestures to attract the attention of public opinion on certain problems, such as when he verbally attacked the great real estate owners in a fierce way, or he chained himself to the gates of the church of Saint-Ambroise (in Paris) for solidarity with the illegal immigrant . With its support to Dal Ngo in favor of the requisition of empty housing and illegal occupations, many enemies were made among the conservatives. He came to declare that “Chirac is unable to govern” or that “Alain Juppé (French premier during the general strikes of 1995) is a liar”.

Emmaus [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

1949: The Foundation [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Looking for a house in which to live and be able to work, the Abbé came across a large house abandoned for several years before the war and then plundered near Paris, in the rich district of Nuilly-Plaisance. He invested the small allowance (fifty thousand francs ^[first] ) received as a deputy to buy it: the inhabitants of the neighborhood were amazed when he began to repair the roof and then the whole house, which was in ruins. By claiming that the house was simply too big for one person, he decided to make it a meeting place for groups of young people: he would become the first base of Emmaus ( Emmaus in French). It was 1949 and the initiative of the association of comrades of Emmaus had just started, founded by the Abbé Pierre. The first “ally” of the Abbé is George, a former murderer and forced, saved by suicide by the religious, who hosts him in Neuilly-Plaisance. ^[2] The name was chosen by referring to the name of a village in Palestine where, as reported in the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke, two disciples hosted Jesus, without having recognized him, shortly after his resurrection.

The Emmaus Vera [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The initial idea of ​​the Abbé was to take advantage of the house to allow young people to gather to pray, study, meet, discuss; ^[first] Subsequently, the contours of a charitable association also took on. In the communities of Emmaus, the volunteers help the poor and homelessness giving them a house, food and a chance of work. Much of the volunteers are ex -homeless of all ages, religious confessions, social origins and ethnic groups. The Abbé and the other “comrades of Emmaus”, as they now called, thus began to host anyone in the great house. Soon many bums joined them, removed from the sidewalks or the docks on the long-senna: ^[first] The community grew and began to ask itself the problem of how to go on. Thus he began to buy and renovate small houses, often touched and in ruins, for “new arrivals”.

One of the ideas that Abbé Pierre wanted to transmit to the secular association of Emmaus is that even the most desperate can make themselves useful for others, that even the weakest (poor and people without a house) can help the weaker ones, bringing The message of love for the poor and the disinherited, for the forgotten of the world. Since the late sixties Emmaus also organized himself to welcome many young people interested in having an experience of community life in small provisional communities, as well as producing wealth to be allocated to the poor through the recovery and enhancement of the many waste and objects thrown by the company consumption. Helping others, commit to justice and experiment with community life for a short period pushed many young Europeans to attend more and more numerous chiffoniers communities.

These were international work fields specially organized in the summer, equipped to guarantee food and accommodation for volunteers, activated from year to year in different regions of France, but also abroad (Denmark, Italy ..) supported by local committees that they provided logistical support, to provide the means of transport necessary for the collection work as well as the covered spaces necessary to install the collected material. Many young people, located according to the extent of the work to be carried out in the predestined areas, organized in the so -called work fields that grouped on average 20 volunteers, juggled in the organization of life in common who, through compliance with some rules, provided for the gestion of accommodation and the kitchen, as well as leisure time and meetings with the locals, but above all in the work that for the most part concerned the door -to -door collection of what was intended in landfills: paper, old iron, metals etc.

A manager designated by the organization formed a group that had the task of distributing the different job positions, which went from the cleaning of the premises to move on to the main task that consisted in the collection, sorting and packaging of the materials collected emptying cellars and attics , full of unused materials that generously the families gave to the so -called “Operation Emmaus”. Tons of paper, old iron and wool or cotton fabrics were collected home by house by thousands of volunteers. A work that was easily translated into money immediately used for humanitarian interventions in the third world, but also for the needy of the same countries that housed the fields. The experience started quietly with a few hundred young people touched dizzying numbers in the seventies. 7 000 young people, in the summer of 1971, in turn installed for at least 20 days during the summer holidays in dozens of “international work fields” in the French region southwest of Paris.

Tour was the city reached by this human tide, therefore sorted within a few hundred kilometers. An imposing organization that was also a stimulus to combat the consumption society and which has been perpetuated over the years to slowly diminish only in the late nineties. Over the years, the experience found adhesions between young people from all over the world, welcoming many young people interested in having an experience of community life in small provisional communities, as well as producing wealth intended for the poor through the recovery and enhancement of consumer waste. An experience that the Abbè Pierre thus defined: Something that cannot be explained, to understand it you have to live it . In the seventies the prayer to be recited before each meal said: We renew our commitment to work to give bread to those who are hungry and to give hunger to those who have bread . Hunger for those who have bread concerned justice.

The first community of comrades of Emmaus (the one in Neuilly-Plaisance) in the early days was supported with the money from the monthly allowance of the Abbé as a former deputy; ^[first] Then to self -childhood the community began to sell materials and objects recovered from landfills or private individuals who intended to get rid of it. The first donations came later. The problem of the lack of money to support Emmaus’ building work in the early years of life of the organization led to the decision of the Abbé Pierre to participate, in 1952, in the game of radio awards of Radio Luxembourg “Double or quits” (the French counterpart of Leave or double? ); He won a cash prize of 256 000 francs.

The winter of 1954: “The insurrection of goodness” [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The mortal cold [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

During the rigid winter of 1954, the work of the Abbé Pierre in favor of the poorest and eviction acquired vast notoriety in France. The cold of the first months of 1954, especially at night, gave no escape to the beggars and in general to the homeless, forced to curl up at the edges of the sidewalks, disheartened in newspaper cards. ^[first] The “Emmaus companions” truck stopped where the cases were more tragic, collecting semi-alleged people; However, the number of these unfortunate was increasingly numerous, fed by evicted. ^[first] The problem of evictions had been further aggravated in fact following the failure to approve a provision on the housing by the Parliament. The night services of the Abbé Pierre and his companions were thus increasingly frequent: they brought bread, wine, soup and covered to people. ^[first] Many were brought away, but many died from the cold, without anything could be done.

Appeal [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The situation for the Abbé became unsustainable every day more, in the end, exhausted, he received the news on the phone that a woman had died, at three in the morning, alive, with the ticket with which she had been evicted because she could not afford the eight thousand rental francs. ^[first] It was the drop that made the vase overflow: full of anguish, went to a radio, and launched an appeal to give blankets, curtains and genres of comfort to those numerous without roof that encountered very serious and growing difficulties in surviving not only in Paris, But in many of the French cities. The Minister of Telecommunications, following the appeal, telephoned the director of the radio to reproach him to have allowed a similar appeal: following the popular mobilization that will derive from the appeal of the Abbé, he will be forced, days later, to praise the same director As far as you do. ^[first]

His famous speech on the Luxembourg radio of 11 February 1954, at 12.05, ^[first] he was accompanied by the request, to the conservative newspaper Le Figaro , to publish his request as, in his opinion, this newspaper was read “by the powerful”:

” Friends, help! … a woman died of cold tonight at 3:00, on the pavement of Corso Sebastopoli. In his hand he had the ticket with which the day had been evicted yesterday … every night there are more than two thousand poor on our sidewalks suffering from the cold, they die without food, without bread, without roof. Some are almost naked …

“Listen to me. In three hours the first two rescue centers were created: one under a tent, at the foot of the Panthéon, in via Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the other in Courbevoie. They are already overflowing. This night, in every night, City of France, in each district of Paris, open up of the rescue centers, where this poor people can find blankets, straw, soups and a smile of friendly people. On the door, in the light of a lamp, a sign with the Words “fraternal rescue center”, under which these simple words can be read: “If you suffer, whoever you are, enter, eat, sleep, find hope, here you are loved”.

” Meteorological bulletins announce a month of terrible frost. As long as the winter lasts, as long as the centers exist, in front of their brothers who die in poverty, all humanity should have a single will: the will to make this situation not possible. I beg you, make us love each other to be able to do this now. As a pain, let us be given a wonderful thing to us: the spirit of sharing of France. Thank you! Everyone can help these homeless people. For this night, at the latest for tomorrow, we need five thousand blankets, three hundred large military tents, two hundred catalytic stoves. Recapate all this to the Hôtel Rochester quickly, via Le Boétie, number 92. ^[7] The appointment for volunteers and trucks to bring them; Eleven tonight, in front of the curtain on the Sainte-Geneviève mountains. Thanks to you in Paris tonight no man, no child will sleep on the asphalt or on the docks ^[8]

Thank you. ”

The great popular mobilization [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The response to the appeal exceeded all expectations: the reaction of the French, known as “the insurrection of goodness”, brought, in addition to an extraordinary amount of donations, many volunteers from all over the country, first to distribute the goods, and later to operate in the communities of Emmaus. The hotel hall was soon cleared to contain the packages that arrived, hundreds of people were in front of the entrance, he had to urgently add eleven telephone lines to the hotel to answer all the calls. ^[first] In the morning the press spoke of an “insurrection of goodness” ( Bontement insurrection ) And the now famous request for Autò ended up bringing donations for a total of 500 million francs (the only Charlie Chaplin gave two million) in money, and an impressive amount of basic necessities. The wave of generosity affected both the rich and the less wealthy citizens, which however gave their small contribution. This incredible figure was completely unexpected; During that night and the following days the switchboards and post offices were submerged.

Due to the enormous volume of the donations, I wanted several weeks to store them (a part of the Orsay railway station was used as a deposit ^[first] ) and then sort and distribute them. The appeal also attracted volunteers from all over France, including many rich bourgeois, who remained affected by the words of the Abbé Pierre. After that experience, a law was promulgated in France that prohibited the eviction during the winter months. Soon the Abbé Pierre, who has now become a celebrity, had to organize his movement, in great expansion, thus creating, on March 23, 1954, the “communities of Emmaus”, which soon spread first throughout France, and then In many countries of the world (Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Congo, Australia .. ^[first] ). In 1959 the Abbé went to Beirut to witness the creation of the first group of interconfectional Emmaus, founded by a Sunni, an archbishop Melchita and a writer Maronita.

The eighties and nineties [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

In 1981 the presidential elections were held in France: the Abbé Pierre promoted the protest vote. The victory of Mitterrand, of the Socialist Party, leads to the head of the Laurent Fabius government (PS), whose initiative to create, in 1984, the Minimum income , a welfare system for the indigent, is supported by the Abbé ^[9] Also in 1984 he organized the “Natale di Carità” operation which, with the collaboration of France evening , led to a total donation of 6 million francs and 200 tons of goods. The actor Coluche also organized the carriage initiative Heart restaurants , offering him 1.5 million francs, obtained from the same.

Coluche’s great success with the restos du cœur, in part due to its great popularity (so much so that it had presented itself to the 1981 presidential elections, and then retired) further convinced the Abbé Pierre of how these initiatives were necessary and how they could mass-media on such occasions be useful. In 1983 he had an interview with the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini to plead the cause of Vanni Mulinaris who had been imprisoned (without undergoing a trial) for his links with the red brigades. In 1988 the Abbé Pierre met representatives of the International Monetary Fund to discuss the difficult financial, monetary and human problems due to the debt of the third world: in 1982 in fact, Mexico had announced that she would not pay the interests on its debt, giving the La alla alla Debt crisis of Latin America’s countries during the eighties.

During the Gulf War (1990–1991]), the Abbé was directed to the President of the United States George H. W. Bush and the president of Iraq Saddam Hussein. He also asked the President of the French Republic François Mitterrand to hire him to deal with refugees, in particular to be able to create a more effective organization of the current high commissioner of the United Nations for refugees (HCR). On the occasion of an interreligious peace meeting he met the Dalai Lama. In the nineties the Abbé had very hard words against the apartheid regime in South Africa; In 1995, after the three years of siege of Sarajevo, he went to the Slavic city to urge the nations of the world to stop the wave of violence, and asked for a French military operation against Serbian positions in Bosnia. At the same time with the organization Emmaus International, n.g.o supported and financed by the various French and Italian communities, had given away a program of aid and assistance to families in difficulty, victims of the war of the three different ethnic groups, based on Gradačaace in Split, Bruno Zanin was commissioned to direct it on the territory.

The death [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The death [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The Abbé Pierre remained active until the day of death, on January 22, 2007 at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital, in Paris, at 05:25; ^[ten] Death was caused by a lung infection for which he had hospitalized on January 15: he was 94 years old. The announcement of the death of the Abbé was given by Martin Hirsch, president of the Compagnons d’Emmaus of France.

Activist until the last [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Despite the advanced age, he continued to give his support to different social campaigns, such as that for illegal immigration, that for the occupation of the gray premises and the movement of the “Enfants de Don Quichotte” (a non -governmental organization that is He developed between 2006 and 2007 with the aim of assisting the homeless). He continued to read the Christian-social newspaper daily The cross . Except that in the last very period, in which this was prevented by the disease, he continued to travel all over the world. ^[2]

Proverbial remain his words shouted during a conference of the last period organized for the right -thinking: “… those who took all the dishes in their dishes leaving the dishes of the other voids (it was referring to the Westerners who for decades benefit from the looting of Many raw materials and land products in third world countries that the world economic and political system incessantly realizes) and that all have a good image, a good reputation, good consciousness, … they say … (we, we, that we have everything), we …. we are for peace. To all these what we have to shout to these: … the first violent, the provocateurs of all the violence is you and when in the evening in your beautiful house you will go To embrace your children with your good conscience than God you will probably have more blood in your hands of unconscious than what they will never have the hands of the desperate who have taken the weapons to try to get out of their despair “.

In that same January 2007 he had gone to the National Assembly to oppose the project of some deputies to change the law on housing for the homeless, who sought in some way to guarantee the right to the house of the poor. After his disappearance, the Minister of employment, social cohesion and public construction Jean-Louis Borloo (UMP) decided to give the name of the Abbé Pierre to the law. He dated back to two years earlier, in 2005 another political campaign in which he firmly opposed some conservative deputies who wanted to reform the Gayssot Act ( created Sru ). In 2004 he went to Algeria after the reconstruction, by the Abbé Pierre Foundation, of many accommodation destroyed by the earthquake that on 21 and 27 May hit the north of the African state.

The funeral [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

After the tribute of the dignitaries, several hundred Parisians (including Professor Albert Jacquard, who had fought with the deceased for the cause of the homeless) went to the Val-de-Grâce chapel to give the last farewell to the Abbé Pierre. The funeral of the Abbé Pierre was held on January 26, 2007 at the cathedral of Notre-Dame, as a sign of national homage (there will be no instead, as requested by family members, the flags at half auction), ^[11] In the presence of many personalities such as the President of the Republic Jacques Chirac, the former president Valéry Giscard of Estaing, the Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, many ministers of the French government, and of course the comrades of Emmaus, who set out at the head of the procession funeral, in accordance with the last wishes of the Abbé Pierre. The body was buried in the Esteville cemetery, a small village in Normandy, close to many comrades of Emmaus. ^[11] Cardinal Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, mentioned a possible beatification.

Relations with far left movements [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

At the beginning of the eighties, the Abbé Pierre foiled for the conditions of captivity in which several suspicious red brigatists were located, many then estranged in France and there remained for a long time thanks to the so -called “mitterrand doctrine”. Above all, he dedicated a lot of attention to Vanni Mulinaris, friend of Renato Curcio and suspected of belonging to the BR, who was imprisoned but then recognized innocent to the trial. Following the death, in January 2007, of the Abbé Pierre, the Italian magistrate Carlo Mastelloni declared to Corriere della Sera That a nephew of the Abbé, Françoise Tuscher, (married to one of the political refugees that Italy had to process as Brigatista, innocent Salvoni) worked as a secretary at the Hyperion Language School in Paris, co -founded (together with other brigatists) and direct From Mulinaris. ^[twelfth] The Hyperion was frequented by intellectuals suspected of bonds with terrorism (Corrado Simioni, Mulinaris, Duccio Berio) ^{[11] [13]} One of the founders of Hyperion, Corrado Simioni, later became vice -president of the Abbé Pierre Foundation. ^[14]

Mastelloni also said that the French religious had gone of his spontaneous will from him to make some statements on the “group of Italians residing in Paris who revolved around the Hyperion language school. I had issued a series of capture mandates for crimes against them who had to do with red terrorism “. ^[twelfth] At that time, after the interview with Pertini on the incarceration of Vanni Mulinaris, the Abbé observed eight days of hunger strike (26 May – 3 June 1984) in the Cathedral of Turin for protest against the conditions of captivity of the “brigatists” in the Italian prisons and the detention without the process of Mulinaris himself, who will later be innocent. ^{[11] [15]} According to Massimo Nava, Abbé Pierre would have been one of the main supporters and inspirers of the Mitterrand doctrine (to give protection in France to numerous Italian escapes involved in judicial investigations). ^[16]

In the same interview with Corriere della Sera On January 23, Mastelloni also declared that during the kidnapping of Aldo Moro the French priest would go to the Roman headquarters, in Piazza del Gesù, of the Christian democracy to try to speak with the then secretary Benigno Zaccagnini. ^[twelfth] Someone saw in this alleged meeting, given that there is no evidence or testimonies whether it took place or not, that the Abbé had intervened at the DC to take the defenses of the son -in -law Salvoni, whose photo had also sprung up in the first days of the kidnapping Moro among the suspects. ^[16] In addition, Mastelloni had become aware that “the Renseignements Geneux” (the French Sisde) “had the evidence that the Abbé Pierre entertained coded relations with the Eta Basca”. ^[twelfth] Later the ANSA reported that the Abbé in 2005 would help Michele D’Auria, a former first -line member during a trial. D’Auria, like many protagonists of the lead years, fled to France, where he entered the community of Emmaus. ^[17]

However, it must be considered that that of a relationship between the intervention of 2005 in favor of Emmaus’s partner (did the doctor) of Alia and the support given to Italian political refugees in the 1980s is only a conjecture. Many suspicions of “solidarity” with left -wing extremism environments in this sense can be linked to the fact that the Abbé Pierre was deceased by many of ideological closeness to the left. In reality, except for political commitment, on the other hand in formations of Catholic inspiration (“centrists” we would say today), of the post -war period, the Abbé never sided for a party. His campaigns, given his “progressive” positions, were obviously closer to the left parties than the conservative ones. In fact, it should be remembered that the philosophy of the Emmaus movement is to accept anyone who wants to work and help others, without restrictions due to the past of individuals.

The “Garaudy affair” [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

One of his most controversial gestures was the support “by way of friendship” to the revisionist philosopher Roger Garaudy, in 1996. ^[16] This, together with the fact that a heated supporter of the Palestinian cause had been (attracting the attention of the media with some declarations on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), for decades), ^[18] He made him suspect anti -Semitism. In January 1996 the satirical newspaper Chained duck He denounced a book of Garaudy (former member of the French Communist Party, expelled, became Catholic and then converted to Islam) The founding myths of Israeli politics and led the author to be accused of denial (before being sentenced for the revisionist theses in 1998, under the 1990 gayssot act). Garaudy caused the indignation of public opinion when in March of that year he announced that he was supported by the Abbé Pierre, who following this declaration was immediately excluded from the Licra (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism) honor committee of the Licra (International League) .

Subsequently the same condemned those who “deny, trivial or falsify the Shoah”, but the continuing to declare a friend of Garaudy caused him many attacks by anti-racists, Hebrew organizations (Mrap, Crif ..) and ecclesiastical hierarchies. ^[19] Even his friend Bernard Kouchner, co -founder of doctors without borders, criticized him for his attitude ^[20] While Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger gradually denied him. ^[21] Later the Abbé retired to the Italian Benedictine monastery of Praglia, near Padua, where, according to the Voltaire Network, Garaudy met again. The Abbé declared to Corriere della Sera That the French press, “inspired by an international Zionist lobby”, had implemented an “imaginative” media campaign against him. ^[22]

In the documentary film for the 2005 TV directed by Claude Pinoteau An abbot named Pierre, a life at the service of others , Abbé declared that his support was towards the person of Roger Garaudy, and not in favor of the statements he had made in the book, which among other things he had not read. The latter justification was criticized by some, who underlined as usually the Abbé Pierre took time to think and meditate to make its thorough personal opinion on facts and people. On the other hand, the curator of the Deportation and Resistance Museum of the Department of Isère (region where Henri Grouès carried out most of his activities during the resistance) declared that the Abbé would deserve to be appointed ten times right among the nations for his struggle in favor of the Jews during the Vichy Republic. ^[23] After the clamor aroused by the controversy on Garaudy the Abbé saw his presence fall into the mass media, while remaining a very popular figure.

Contrasts with the clergy [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Many criticisms of the Abbé Pierre came from its positions towards the Catholic and Vatican Church; He accused both John Paul II and Benedict XVI of confusing sociological reasons with theological reasons in taking certain positions. ^[2] His positions on many social problems, sometimes explicitly left and divergent by the Roman Curia, made him at the time controversial and popular. He maintained relations with the progressive French bishop Jacques Gailloot. During his life the Abbé Pierre still met the Popes Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII and John Paul II, but was unable to meet the Pope Benedict XVI.

Criticisms of the Catholic Church and the Curia [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The Abbé Pierre often criticized the excessively sumptuous lifestyle of the Vatican, reproaching several times to Pope John Paul II the expensive journeys for the world. Especially in the most conservative environments of the clergy, the figure of the Abbé was harshly criticized for her positions on the reform of the church doctrine, regarding women’s order, birth control and marriage for the clergy, ^[16] .The Abbé Pierre pronounced themselves several times in favor of the possibility of ordering priests also women and married men, also in order to alleviate the problem of the shortage of new ministers of worship in western countries.

Even on the homoparentality, the Abbé Pierre assumed progressive positions, supporting the right of homosexuals to raise children, ^[16] provided that minors did not suffer any psychological or social prejudice. According to the biography of Pierre Lunel, the same Abbé in his youth had an infatuation for a peer. ^[11] However, he declared himself contrary to the marriage between people of the same sex, in his opinion a source of “strong social destabilization”, preferring different forms such as solidarity pacts. In open contrast with the positions of the Catholic Church, the promotion of the use of condoms in the fight against Venus and AIDS diseases (one case for all the question of the AIDS epidemic in Africa) supported without reservations. He rejected the papal policy against the use of contraceptives stating that it was necessary to “look in the face”.

If many religious did not have these positions properly, on the other hand they obtained several sympathies between the French population, making it even more popular. He confessed, in old age, to have had a sexual relationship with a woman after ordination: in fact in the autobiographical book My God … Why? (“My God .. because?”), ^[2] Written together with Frédéric Lenoir, the Abbé implicitly admitted to having once had a random sexual intercourse in spite of the vote of chastity that he had professed by adhering to the cappuccino order. ^{[24] [25]} My God … Why? In addition to the unprecedented news on random sexual relationship, it also contained other “uncomfortable” positions. ^[2] .

The Vatican and the death of the Abbé [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Its difficult relationships with the Catholic ecclesiastical hierarchy and the Vatican also partially explain the warm reactions had from the Roman pontiff and the Vatican press to the news of his death. The Osservatore Romano , the Vatican newspaper, not gave the news of the death of the Abbé in January 2007, and Pope Benedict XVI did not mention it in the statements of the following hours. The only immediate official reactions of the church were two interviews with the French cardinals Roger Etchegaray and Paul Poupard. Finally, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone called the death of the Abbé with more than one day late, praising his action against the poor. ^[26]

Character considered by many “uncomfortable”, tolerated by the ecclesiastical hierarchies, by many groups of power and politicians, was loved by many (French but not only) for its inexhaustible ability to indignation, for its consistency and courage to lead his battles, always in favor of the weakest. This great popular appreciation meant that the Abbé Pierre was voted many times as the most popular person in France, ^[16] Although in 2003 he was thrown from the first to second place by the footballer Zinédine Zidane. ^[27] Also in this sense in 2005 it came third to a television survey for “the greatest French” ( The largest French ). He received a great amount of prizes and honors: in particular in 1998 he was awarded as a great officer of the National Order of Quebec, while in 2004 he was assigned the great cross of the legion of honor, delivered to him by the President of the Republic Jacques Chirac. The Abbé Pierre also won the Balzan Prize for humanity, peace and brotherhood in 1991, “for having entirely dedicated to the rescue of the suffering in spirit and body”. ^[16] He was proposed several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Abbé Pierre was always of poor health, getting very often, especially in his youth he had several problems with the lungs, so much so that he had to give up the conventual life; It will be a lung infection due to the death, at the age of 94. He also miraculously remained unharmed in two very serious accidents that they occurred: in 1950, during a flight in India, he survived when his plane was forced to emerge from the engine problems. In 1963 his boat was shipwrecked while sailing on the Río de la Plata, between Argentina and Uruguay: he was saved by clinging to one of the wooden parts of the ship, while around him 80 passengers died.

Works of the Abbé Pierre [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

(Many of his books have been translated into Italian)

• 1956: To man , Interviews and conferences, editions of the deer, parigi
• 1987: Bernard Chevallier questions Father Pierre: Emmaüs or avenge the man , con Bernard Chevalier, ed. LGF/Pocket Book, Parigi
• 1988: A hundred poems against misery , and. The Cheries-Midi, Paris
• 1993: God and men , con Bernard Kouchner, ed. Robert Laffont
• 1994: Testament… ; Re -edition 2005, ed. Bayard/Centurion, Paris
• 1994: Land and men , ed. Cerf, Parigi
• 1994: Absolute , ed. Threshold, Parigi
• 1996: Thank God , ed. Fayard/Centurion, Parigi
• 1996: The excluded ball , ed. Fayard, parigi
• 1997: Memoirs of a believer , ed. Fayard, parigi
• 1999: Fraternity , ed. Fayard, parigi
• 1999: Words , Éd. ACTES SUD, PARIGI
• 1999: What is death? , and. Albin Michel, Paris
• 1999: I will wait for the pleasure of the good Lord: the integral of the interviews of Edmond Blattchen , and. Alice, Paris
• 2000: On the way to the absolute , ed. Flemmmario, paris
• 2001: The planet of the poor. The world tour of the Emmaus communities , Di Louis Harenger, Louis Harenger, Michel Friedman, Emmaüs International, Abbé Pierre, Ed. I read, parigi
• 2002: Confessions , and. Albin Michel, Paris
• 2002: I wanted to be a sailor, missionary or brigand , with Denis Lefèvre, ed. The Cheries-Midi, Paris. Re -edition as a pocket, ed. J’ai lu, paris
• 2004: Father Pierre speaks to young people , Con Pierre-Roland Saint-Dizier, ed. Of the sign, parigi
• 2005: An angel’s smile , ed. Elytis, Parigi
• 2005: My God … Why? Small meditations on Christian faith and the meaning of life , Con Frédéric Lenoir, ed. Plunge
• 2006: Serve: Words of life , Con albine Navarino, ed. Presses du châtelet, priest

Works in Italian on the Abbé Pierre [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

• Graziano Zoni, Abbé Pierre … it is not enough to be good , Editore Emi, 2004
• Pierre Lunel, Abbé Pierre. One life , Publisher Piemme, 2006
• Denis Lefèvre, All the challenges of the Abbé Pierre , Editore Emi, 2012

• Pierre L’Abbé . are sape.it , De Agostini.
• ( IN ) Father Pierre . are British encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
• Father Pierre . are Graze , Italian Episcopal Conference.
• ( IN ) Abbé Pierrework . are Open Library , Internet Archive.
• ( FR ) Father Pierre . are Sycomore , National Academy.
• Abble Pierre Fondion . are Fondation-BBE-Pierre.fr . URL consulted on February 23, 2009 (archived by URL Original February 9, 2011) .
• Emmaus International . are Emmaus-International.org .
• Emmaus Italia . are Emmaus.it . URL consulted on 25 August 2013 (archived by URL Original 31 August 2013) .