A Model of Citizenship

CO.RE.IS./APA - Milan, Italy/Baku, Azerbaijan
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Baku, Azerbaijan/Milan, Italy: Yahya Pallavicini, Vice President of COREIS (Islamic Religious Community) Italy, returned from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where he was invited by the Council of Europe and the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League, just in time to receive the "Ambrogino d'oro" from the hands of the mayor of the city of Milan.

Mr. Pallavicini, a member of the Italian minister of the interior's Council on Islam in Italy and Imam of the al-Wahid Mosque of Milan, was invited to Azerbaijan to participate and chair a session of the Conference for Ministers responsible for culture.

This intercultural dialogue meeting reunited more than 40 ministers coming from the West and the East of the world, in a new occasion where geopolitical borders opened to welcome the respect and the richness of different spiritual and cultural identities, making itself available to a convergence and harmony that renews the universal value of dialogue, of the sacred dignity of human life and of the profound and authentic dimension of culture.

Mr. Pallavicini's presence as part of the ISESCO [Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization] delegation next to that of the Holy See has allowed him to integrate elements and experiences of interreligious dialogue like that of the recent Catholic-Muslim Forum in the Vatican which is of great importance and hope for the future.

On December 7th, in Milan, Yahya Pallavicini received the prize "Ambrogino d'oro" given by the mayor to the CO.RE.IS. Italiana (Italian Islamic Religious Community) as an acknowledgment of “civic benevolence.”

It is the first time in Italy that an islamic organisation receives this prize, on behalf of institutions, as a model of citizenship.

The "Ambrogino d'oro" [Little Golden Ambrose] prize is linked to the feast of Saint Ambrose (the patron saint of the city of Milan), who was a contemporary of another great, oriental, Christian, master Saint Augustine, and reminds us of the value of the meetings between intellectuals and sages who in other historical periods knew how to enlighten and inspire the reflections and the actions of all people.

On December 7th, in an extraordinary coincidence with the christian calendar of the immaculate conception of Mary, muslims celebrated the 'Eid al-Adha [Festival of Sacrifice], the great feast that concludes the Hajj, the pilgrimage of millions of believers in islam’s sacred places.

[Picture 1: Yahya Pallavicini with Pope Benedict XVI. Photo from CO.RE.IS Italy website: http://www.coreis.it/]

[Picture 2: Baku's Conference. On December 3, Baku Declaration has been adopted at the Council of Europe Conference of the Ministers responsible for Culture on the “Intercultural dialogue as a basis for peace and sustainable development in Europe and its neighboring regions”. Text/Photo by Ulkar Gasimova/APA. Read the full article (in English) at http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=93123].