Parisian solidarity groups awaiting Pope's visit

By Edoardo Giribaldi “You must remain small.” In Paris, solidarity moves horizontally: it is not imposed from the pulpit but flows—like the Seine—from the heart of the city to the outskirts. It gathers young people and the homeless around the same table; both have known the same precariousness and exclusion. It offers a “café”—in the French sense rather than the Italian one: a meeting place rather than merely a beverage—offered “with open hands,” ready to receive something in return. By accepting this, a woman can speak without fear of judgment, emerging from dark, tangled tunnels of something like prostitution. Someone with no formal education can learn philosophy. This commitment is becoming increasingly urgent in France as the presidential elections approach and the “rift” within the population widens, threatening to fuel hatred and discrimination.