The Order of Malta’s Centre for the social and professional integration of young adults with disabilities has been inaugurated in the Capital. Ambassador Antonio Zanardi Landi  underlines to the Vatican media the importance of the project in view of the Jubilee. The premises granted in use by the Grand Priory have been blessed by Card. Ghirlanda.

There is a ‘different’ diplomacy that looks at the reception, assistance and help of those who are relegated to those existential peripheries so often denounced by Pope Francis. “Joy” – an acronym for Youth, Commitment, Employment, Inclusion, Welcoming – is the social project conceived and implemented by the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the Holy See, thanks to the efforts of Ambassador Antonio Zanardi Landi and his wife Sabina: their intuition and commitment led to the creation of a Centre for young adults with disabilities using 4 apartments belonging to the Gran Priory of Rome, in via Ostiense 103, in the heart of the city.

Welcoming and training
“The programme we have developed has several objectives. – explains Ambassador Zanardi Landi on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony – “The first is to support families with children who have special needs and to help them managing the path towards autonomy of these young people who will be guests of the Center. They will be welcomed during the day and they will receive long-term professional training”. The four units used for the construction of the Centre for Young Adults with Disabilities were made available free of charge to the Grand Priory of the Order of Malta and, thanks to generous donations, have been renovated according to criteria that reflect every Housing -need for disabled people.

Looking to the Jubilee
“A part of the renovated apartments – explains Sabina Zanardi Landi – is dedicated to the training of the 12 children included in the project. Two of the apartments, however, are intended to become holiday homes to accommodate those families with disabled people who will come to Rome for the Jubilee”. The same children who participate in the project will host those with their own difficulties, and the training project – entrusted to the cooperative Diversa Arte – will focus on management and reception aspects. Rosa Maria Bianco, president of the cooperative, has no doubt: “This is an important opportunity for the young people involved, because it is about personal and professional growth and it is a double challenge for them, in some ways, because there is also the possibility to experiment. Not an easy step for them and their families.”

Families and the “after us”
The autonomy path proposed by the Gioia project was welcomed with great hope by the families of the children involved. “For me and my son Marco opens a window of serenity – explains Antonella Cossu, retired – We moved in many directions to find a place for Marco facing 1000 difficulties. Not everyone can imagine what it means for the parents of these children the question ” what will happen to them after us”? There are many young people who have difficulties like Marco, but they have a lot of potential as well. Here they will have the opportunity to express themselves”. At the inauguration of the new Center there were all the realities of the neighborhood. “We hope that those who live here will see these young with kindness,” – says Ambassador Zanardi Landi – “and that they can show them this kindness, simply by a smile, a pat on the back when they meet them on the stairs.”

A flagship for the Order of Malta
The Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Frà John Dunlap, welcomed this new reality who wishing the children to “discover the joy of working together on a common project”, expressing to their parents the hope that they can feel themselves “supported and sustained in the search for a serene future for your children”. Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, blessed the premises made available by the Grand Priory and expressed his personal appreciation for the initiative, “a work that nearby the Jubilee becomes absolutely a sign”. A sign of peace, first of all, “but also a sign of solidarity – as the Cardinal stressed – of friendship and mutual acceptance, because this is the fundamental value that we want to transmit”.

Written by Stefano Leszczynski – Città del Vaticano

click here to read the Press Release
click here to listen to the Ambassador Zanardi Landi’s interview
click here to listen to the Countess Zanardi Landi’s interview
click here to listen to the interview of the mother of one of the young boy from the Centre
click here to listen to the interview of His Eminence Card. Ghirlanda