Fr. Alex Zanotelli receives an honorary degree

Yesterday afternoon, September 23, in the city of Taranto, Italy, the Rector of the Aldo Moro University of Bari, Corrado Petrocelli, and Antonio Uricchio, Director of the Ionian Department in ‘Juridical and economic systems of the Mediterranean: society, environment and culture,’ conferred an honorary law degree on Fr. Alessandro Zanotelli.

The ceremony opened with the ‘tribute’ by Professor Roberto Voza and was followed by the address of Alex Zanotelli on the topic of “let us get busy in favor of life.” Immediately following, the rector read the motivation for the degree and invested the inductee.

“Taranto needs a dialogue based on human understanding. This is the reason why I have accepted this honorary degree,” said Fr. Zanotelli, speaking of the environmental problems and of the Ilva case. “I know – said the missionary – about the social tensions that have arisen. What is important now is mediation of active citizens within civil society.” According to the missionary, referring again to the Ilva case, “there are no enemies to be fought. There are only people with whom to interact and a system that needs to be changed because it is based almost exclusively on profit.”

In October 2002, Fr. Alex Zanotelli received another honorary degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Aquila, Italy, given to the missionary “in recognition of his constant commitment to promote the culture of solidarity and peace.” At the time, Fr. Zanotelli spoke in his address on the theme of “Which globalization? And where is Africa?”

Fr. Alessandro Zanotelli, 75, is a native of Livo, near Trent, Italy and was ordained as a Comboni Missionary priest in 1964, after having completed his theological studies in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was a missionary in Sudan but, after eight years, he was expelled by the government because of his solidarity with the Nuba people and because of his Christian witness. From 1978 to 1987 he directed the Comboni Magazine ‘Nigrizia’, a monthly publication of information on Africa. From 1987 to 2001 the missionary worked in Korogocho, one of the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Currently, Fr. Zanotelli is in Naples, Italy.