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Interview with Luca Masneri, mayor of Edolo, coordinator of the table of local administrators for the Fratelli tutti Foundation.
“When some colleague says to me ‘fraternity is a thing for priests,’ I always reply like this: ‘You’re wrong, it’s what we administrators do every day.”
Luca Masneri, 43, mayor of Edolo in the province of Brescia and a national councilor of Anci, has been the coordinator for three years of the table of local administrators for the Fratelli tutti Foundation, a responsibility he shares with Pierangelo Milesi. During the last World Meeting on Human Fraternity his table was among the most attended and most productive.
Now a new challenge, a step forward: the Fratelli tutti Foundation, with President Cardinal Mauro Gambetti and Secretary General Father Francesco Occhetta, have signed an agreement with the National Association of Italian Municipalities illustrated to the press by President Gaetano Manfredi, mayor of Naples, on January 21. Not a simple collaboration but an agenda written by four hands to introduce the value of fraternity in administrative action. A document available to city councils for approval during the Jubilee year.

Mayor Masneri, what is the purpose of fraternity in the administration of small or large communities?
“It is a search for meaning. So many municipalities live their daily lives in solitude, they make an extraordinary exercise of civicism disconnected from other experiences and from a deep root. The agenda is to start a path that is inspired by fraternity. So many administrators already know this experience. They network with the Third Sector, they are attentive to the human person. This spirit is an excellence of our country. The Anci and Fratelli tutti Foundation document cultivates institutional collaboration, but above all it gives meaning to the work of administrators.”

What other words could we use instead of fraternity: participation, sharing, solidarity?
“The more correct word is subsidiarity. But not everyone knows its meaning. Then I would say more clearly: attention to the human person, putting him at the center, in his individual and social dimensions.”

The resolution calls for the creation of tables within city councils that are also open to outside personalities. How was this proposal received?
“Very positively. There is no jealousy. After all, the relationships that administrators already cultivate with associations, Third Sector are many, more or less institutionalized.”

The goal is for all 8,000 Italian municipalities to vote on the agenda. Realistically, what figure do you have in mind?
“The bar is 8000, but if at least 500 municipalities give the green light it will be a success. Many will seize the opportunity of the consideration of budgets these days. I’ll say more: in the big municipalities, where the parties weigh the most, a discussion is emerging in the council groups. That’s what we want. A real political debate around the theme of fraternity. To turn a spotlight on this issue.”

The mayor of which city would you like to have at your table during the World Meeting on Human Fraternity?
“The mayor of Kiev Vitalij Klyčko. He is a fine figure, I also followed him in his previous life as a sportsman, as a world boxing champion. He symbolizes a city that has been resisting bombs for three years. So does his Moscow counterpart Sergei Sobjanin. In the spirit of La Pira: the union of cities inspires the union of nations. Mayors are more inclined than presidents to build dialogue.”

Why should a city council vote on your agenda?
“Because we need to make sense of the administrative experience. Because even a road or a tax needs a values sieve. The theme of fraternity can be a method for public policy. It is the framework for everything. Or it should be.”

Interview conducted by Goffredo de Marchis