“May nations learn once again to seek what unites in order to resolve what divides.” Among the many words spoken yesterday for the September 3rd holiday, those of Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi deserve to be reread even after the ceremonies, processions and celebrations have ended.
Because Zuppi, speaking about San Marino, touched on a point that relates directly to the history of the Republic. He spoke of freedom, but did not link it to isolation or to the mere defense of one’s own independence. On the contrary: “It is the freedom that comes from being together, from thinking of ourselves together.”
Said in San Marino, this is no trivial concept.
The Republic has defended its independence, its sovereignty and its distinctiveness for centuries. But it has done so while living at the heart of another country, building relationships, seeking balances and making diplomacy one of the instruments of its own survival.
Being independent, in short, has never meant being alone.
This is probably the most interesting aspect of the message delivered by the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, CEI). Especially today, as international relations seem once again to embrace the idea that defending oneself requires distancing from others, raising walls and identifying above all what divides.
San Marino certainly cannot show the world the solution to its conflicts. It would be rhetorical to attribute to a small Republic a role it cannot play. But its history can still tell us something: identity and openness are not necessarily opposites.
One can jealously guard what one is without regarding everything outside as a threat. For a country the size of San Marino, moreover, this has often been a necessity even before being a virtue.
This is why Zuppi’s phrase — “seeking what unites in order to resolve what divides” — goes beyond the religious meaning of the day. It is a political matter, one concerning states, but also communities.
Because a Republic does not live solely on its institutions, its laws or its borders. It also lives on the ability of its citizens to recognize themselves as part of something shared, even while holding different ideas, interests and visions.
Perhaps this is the message that can endure from September 3rd once the official celebrations have ended.
San Marino’s freedom has endured through the centuries because different generations have continued to regard it as a collective heritage.
In a time when it seems to have become far easier to emphasize what divides than to work on what unites, Zuppi reminded San Marino of something that belongs deeply to its history. And which perhaps deserves to be remembered more than just once a year.
