Poor wooden boards: it is the tragic humility of a boat stranded on the coast of Lampedusa. Two boards 2 meters and 60 centimeters high, 25 kilos of pain. It is the Cross of Lampedusa,   symbol of the odyssey of migrants: it has never stopped since April 9, 2014, when Pope Francis blessed it in the Vatican. From that day he travels from hand to hand, generates encounters and solidarity between peoples of various cultures and religions. Entrusted to a spontaneous relay that has accompanied her in over 2400 churches, shrines, places of worship in Europe and in the world, the Cross is currently in Salamanca and will move to other places in Spain and the trip of the Cross on the border between Mexico and the United States and in other places in the world where we can reflect on the theme of the dignity of migrant people.

 

At each stage, the Cross leaves - as a reminder of their passage - a small cross, also made with the wood of the sunken boats, to each local community. A seed of conscience , a testimony, a warning to consider that this has been and this is and that we cannot not know.

 

Ennio Morricone was inspired by the Croce di Lampedusa, who wrote and donated the composition "La voce dei sommersi" to the Foundation.

 

A cross from Lampedusa, always made with the wood of the barges, was requested by British Museum , which introduced it to its permanent exhibition collection.

 

To request the Croce di Lampedusa and welcome it in your diocese in Italy and abroad write to casaspiritoarti@gmail.com

 

The referent of the Foundation for the journey of the Lampedusa Cross in Spain and abroad is Graziella Cuccu.

"The Church is therefore called to remind everyone that it is not only a question of social or migratory issues but of human beings, of brothers and sisters who today are the symbol of all the discarded people of globalized society. It is called to testify that for God no one is 'foreigner' or 'excluded'. It is called to awaken consciences dozing in indifference to the reality of the Mediterranean Sea which has become a cemetery for many, too many."

 

Pope Francis