It is the prize that the archdiocese of Milan and the Elikya Association assign to men and women who have enlightened the lives of many. Appointment at the PIME Theater on 28 April
Men and women who carry within them a flame that makes them burn and illuminates those around them. A fire that is tension towards happiness and the desire to celebrate life. This idea of the “fire inside” comes from a homily by the archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini. Which then, over the years, developed and gave rise to many “flames”: set to music by the Elikya multi-ethnic choir, the archbishop’s text, expanded and adapted by Delpini himself, was, in fact, dramatized by the Elikya Association : the result is a show that tells the stories of men and women who, in a world wounded by inconsistencies, weaknesses, wickedness and sadness, discover the secrets to inhabit it with wisdom and full joy. The show was staged for the first time in 2021, in the aftermath of the killing of Ambassador Luca Attanasio in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. And it was precisely in his memory that the embryo of what, this year, officially becomes the Fire Inside Prize was handed over to the parents.
The initiative, carried out by the Archdiocese of Milan and by the Elikya Association, has involved several people from different realities, who have contributed to identifying the six figures of men and women who will be awarded during an evening-show, Friday 28 April at 21 at the Teatro Pime in Milan. They are Monsignor Mounir Khairallah, bishop of the diocese of Batroun, north of Beirut, in Lebanon; Margaret Karram, president of the Focolare Movement; Don Virginio Colmegna, former director of Caritas Ambrosiana and director of the Casa della Carità for twenty years; Daniele Mencarelli, writer; Don Luigi Giussani on the centenary of his birth, and the families of the Macedonian Tree, an experience of sharing and community life between Italians and Moroccans, at the gates of Pavia.
The evening will see the participation of Archbishop Mario Delpini and will be animated by the Elikya Choir, an ensemble made up of 50 choristers of 16 different nationalities, led by the director Raymond Bahati, which proposes a mix of different artistic forms: singing, music, acting, cinema … An intertwining that reflects the composition of the group itself and that reveals the beauty of diversity, making a special fire explode that will give warmth to the whole evening.