Note from Bishop Mons. Enrico Trevisi: There is a time to speak and a time to be silent (Eccl 3:7)

Faced with everything happening in the world, and faced with what is also happening in Trieste, we are often urged to take sides. As if there were no alternative to controversy. As a Church, we have tried to engage with the issues of migration (of refugees, of asylum seekers) with our own style and identity—not with words that fuel ideological and polemical clashes, but instead with actions. We have opened the Sant’Anastasio dormitory for children, women, and vulnerable individuals. We have opened Spazio 11, a solidarity waiting room, and all this was done through dialogue, because words serve to build bridges, not to create further divisions.

What is happening today in our city deeply saddens us: we have always sought dialogue with institutions and with other volunteer organizations with which we also collaborate, while maintaining our identity and our style. The suffering of migrants (the endless waiting for days, weeks, and months) before their asylum requests are heard urges us to testify that something can be done. As a Christian community, we strive and commit ourselves to finding solutions capable of both ensuring the safety of citizens and alleviating the suffering of migrants. For this reason, we hope for dialogue and concrete solutions.

For years, Piazza della Libertà has been a sign of care and attention for those fleeing wars and poverty. The suffering of people and the current critical issues demand the courage to provide concrete answers that do not undermine solidarity with those in difficulty. Indifference towards those who suffer is a serious illness that must be cured. There are no medicines that work for everyone. We have the Gospel, which urges us not to make speeches, but to lean down toward those who suffer. And to look at everything and everyone not from the right, not from the left, nor from the center. To look at everyone and everything a little from above. From the height of the Cross. With the gaze of Christ. Not with controversy, but with mercy. To those who turn migrants into an ideological clash, we point to the magisterium of Pope Leo: "Dear migrants, I want to bow before your dignity. You are not numbers or files: you are people with histories, families, and dreams" (June 11, 2026).