Rimini Meeting

The Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples (Italian: Meeting per l'amicizia fra i popoli), more commonly known as the Rimini Meeting (Italian: Meeting di Rimini), is an annual lay Catholic festival held every year in Rimini, Italy, in the last week of August.

Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples
Meeting per l'amicizia fra i popoli
Theologian Paolo Benanti addressing the Rimini Meeting in 2022.
StatusActive
GenreReligious festival
FrequencyAnnually
VenueRimini Fiera
Location(s)Rimini
CountryItaly
Inaugurated23 August 1980 (1980-08-23)
Attendance800,000 (2022)
 • 80,000 in-person
 • 720,000 online
Organized byCommunion and Liberation
Websitewww.meetingrimini.org

Inaugurated in 1980, the Meeting is the flagship event of Communion and Liberation, an international association of the faithful.[1][2] It is a significant event in domestic politics, attracting high-profile guest speakers, and receives notable coverage in the Italian press.[3][4]

Overview

The Rimini Meeting is held annually in the last week of August at Rimini Fiera. The weeklong festival includes talks, debates, workshops, exhibitions, sporting, musical and literary events, and other sessions.[5][6] Each edition revolves around a theme that is chosen to inspire open reflection and dialogue.[7]

In 2022, the Rimini Meeting attracted 80,000 visitors, with a further 720,000 online attendees.[8] The 2023 edition

Venue and organisation

The first edition of the Rimini Meeting took place in 1980, at the site of the old Rimini Fiera. The Meeting moved to the new Rimini Fiera after its completion in 2001.[9]

In March 2008, the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples Association, which was constituted in December 1980 to organise the Meeting,[10] became a foundation.[11] Over 3,000 volunteers work during the Meeting to stage, operate, and dismantle it.[6][12]

Political and cultural significance
The Rimini Meeting's second edition in 1981 included a concert by RAI's orchestra directed by Piero Umiliani.[13]

The Rimini Meeting is a significant event in Italian culture and politics, often attracting high-profile guest speakers and notable press coverage.[3][4] Previous speakers include Pope John Paul II,[14] Mario Draghi,[15] Staffan de Mistura,[16] and Tony Blair.[17]

The 2022 Meeting included an early debate in the run-up to the 2022 general election and was attended by figures from major political parties: Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini, Enrico Letta, Ettore Rosato, Antonio Tajani, and Carlo Calenda.[18] Ten ministers of the Meloni government attended the 2023 edition, including Salvini, Tajani, and Giancarlo Giorgetti. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, spoke on the final day of the Meeting.[6]

In previous years, national television channels, including the public broadcaster RAI, have broadcast some sessions of the Rimini Meeting,[19] including the Sunday Mass on Rai 1, RAI's flagship television channel.[5]

Fraud investigation

In December 2012, the public prosecutor's office in Rimini charged the general manager, lead administrator and an account of the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples Foundation with fraud,[20][21] and seized one million euros from the foundation.[20] An investigation by the Guardia di Finanza found that the foundation had presented false loss-making balance sheets to obtain 310,000 euros of public funding for the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Rimini Meeting:[20][21][22] such funds can only be disbursed to organisations not making profits.[20] The public agencies involved included Emilia-Romagna's regional council, Rimini's tourist marketing agency, the local Chamber of Commerce, and the Ministry of Culture.[20][21][22] The group was acquitted in March 2016.[21]

References
  1. "Che cos'è il Meeting" [What is the Meeting?]. Meeting di Rimini (in Italian). Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  2. Mayaki SJ, Benedict (19 August 2022). "Pope to Rimini meeting: Spread in the world a passion for the person". Vatican News. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  3. Maria De Luca, Davide (19 August 2012). "Che cos'è Comunione e Liberazione" [What is Communion and Liberation?]. Il Post (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  4. Olivari, Stefano (24 August 2022). "Perché tutti vanno al Meeting di Rimini" [Why everyone goes to the Riimini Meeting]. Indiscreto (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  5. "Dal 20 al 26 agosto a Rimini la 36° edizione del Meeting" [From 20 to 26 August in Rimini the 36th edition of the Meeting]. riminiturismo.it (in Italian). 17 August 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  6. Zavagli, Stefano (21 August 2023). "Rimini capitale della politica, al Meeting attesi 10 ministri del governo Meloni. In campo 3.000 volontari" [Rimini, capital of politics: Ten ministers of Meloni's government are expected at the Meeting. 3,000 volunteers are in the field.]. RiminiToday (in Italian). Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  7. "Meeting for friendship among peoples: 44th edition". riminiturismo.it. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  8. Guiducci, Paolo (26 August 2022). "Rimini. Al Meeting tornano i numeri record. Nel 2023 al centro un'amicizia inesauribile" [Record numbers return to the Meeting in Rimini: in 2023, an inexhaustible friendship is at the centre]. Avvenire (in Italian). Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  9. "31 gennaio 1991 - Si apre a Rimini il XX e ultimo congresso del Pci" [31 January 1991: The twentieth and last congress of the PCI opens in Rimini]. Chiamami Città (in Italian). 30 January 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  10. "The Foundation". Meeting di Rimini. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  11. "Articles of Foundation". Meeting di Rimini. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  12. Paolucci, Giorgio (12 August 2021). "«Il nostro segreto è la gratuità»" ["Our secret is in the freeness"]. Famiglia Cristiana. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  13. "Grande manifestazione conclusiva". Meeting di Rimini (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  14. Pope John Paul II (29 August 1982). "Build the Civilization of Truth and Love". Communion and Liberation. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  15. Guiducci, Paolo (26 August 2022). "Rimini. Al Meeting tornano i numeri record. Nel 2023 al centro un'amicizia inesauribile" [Record numbers return to the Meeting in Rimini: in 2023, an inexhaustible friendship is at the centre]. Avvenire (in Italian). Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  16. Torinelli, Andrea (4 September 2016). "The saint who treated President Reagan 'like a school boy'". La Stampa. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  17. Invereigh, Austen (29 August 2009). "Tony Blair in Rimini talks language of Benedict XVI". America. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  18. "Meeting Rimini: sfilano leader politici, popolo di Cl tifa Meloni" [Meeting Rimini: Political leaders parade and the CL crowd supports Meloni]. Libero Quotidiano (in Italian). 23 August 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  19. Graziano Flore, Raffaele (22 August 2022). "Programma Meeting Rimini 2022 oggi 22 agosto/ Incontri, ospiti e video streaming" [Rimini 2022 Meeting Program today, 22 August: Meetings, guests and video streaming]. IlSussidiario.net (in Italian). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  20. Dirani, Deborah (11 December 2012). "Meeting dell'amicizia di Rimini, indagati per truffa tre dirigenti. La Fondazione: l'ipotesi di reato per noi è infondata" [Friendship Meeting in Rimini: Three managers under investigation for fraud. The Foundation: the alleged crime is unfounded for us.]. Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  21. "Meeting Rimini, tutti assolti al processo: nessun indebita appropriazione di fondi pubblici" [Rimini Meeting. All acquitted in the trial: No misappropriation of public funds.]. altarimini.it (in Italian). 22 March 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  22. "Procura dissequestra palazzina Meeting" [Prosecutor releases the Meeting building from seizure]. Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
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