This annual event is not directed only to Catholics. Instead it aims to show how people can dialogue on the major themes of contemporary culture.
Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Rimini Meeting on August 22, 2026, marked the second time a pope has participated in this gathering, organized annually at the end of summer by the Communion and Liberation movement in the Italian city of Rimini. Nearly 44 years after John Paul II’s visit on August 29, 1982, the current Bishop of Rome took part in this event, which draws a very large audience and reflects the enduring influence of Catholicism in Italy.
Created in 1980, the annual meeting — held in Rimini, a city of of 150,000 in Emilia-Romagna — was launched by individuals associated with Communion and Liberation, a movement founded by the Italian priest Luigi Giussani (1922–2005).
Communion and Liberation is one of the many "ecclesial movements and communities" founded in the 20th century. These movements and groups fall into a range of categories in the Church, but basically involve helping lay people on the path to holiness. Other examples include the Neo-Catechumenal Way, Regnum Christi, Opus Dei, Focolare, Schoenstatt, and many more.
The initial aim of the Rimini Meeting was to make Rimini a place where prominent figures from all walks of life could engage in dialogue on the major themes of contemporary culture.
The Meeting is therefore not, strictly speaking, an internal conference reserved for members of the movement or even members of the wider Church, but is intended to be a public event, open to people of different beliefs, cultures, and religions. Communion and Liberation thus sees it as a way to consider the relevance of the Christian message in all areas of life: education, work, politics, art, human relationships, and the economy.
An echo of this event, also organized by Communion and Liberation, is held in America and called the New York Encounter.
Founded in 1954, Communion and Liberation developed in response to the spread of Marxism. Today it has approximately 100,000 members worldwide. The Rimini Meeting was thus conceived as an alternative to the Festa dell’Unità, organized by the Italian Communist Party.
International reach
The Rimini Meeting brings in some 800,000 participants annually. More than 8,000 prominent figures have spoken there over the course of its 46-year history.
The guest list from previous editions highlights the international scope of this gathering. The first edition, held while the Cold War was still plaguing the world, was notably marked by a speech by Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky. During the years of John Paul II’s pontificate, significant attention was focused on Central Europe and particularly on Poland; its first democratically elected leader, Lech Wałęsa, was invited to Rimini in 1990, alongside Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Although very close to the Communion and Liberation movement, Benedict XVI did not return to Rimini during his pontificate.
In 1999, the newly elected Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, presented his plan for national reconciliation there. That same year, Iraqi Vice President Tarek Aziz — whose visits to Europe were very rare — expressed the Saddam Hussein regime’s support for a planned visit by John Paul II to Iraq, which ultimately never materialized. In the year 2000, the Dalai Lama’s presence at the Rimini Meeting drew the ire of the Italian government, which feared a diplomatic crisis with China.
In addition to leading figures of the Church in Italy, the Meeting has also featured Catholic personalities from various perspectives, such as theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, writer Jean Guitton, and, more recently, philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj. This year, the Meeting will notably feature Roseline Hamel, the sister of Father Jacques Hamel, who was murdered in France in 2016. She will engage in a dialogue with Nassera Kermiche, the mother of the terrorist Adel Kermiche, about their experiences with forgiveness in the wake of that attack.
A political event in Italy
In the context of Italian political life, this gathering has become an anchor for the Christian Democratic movement, whose leading figure, Giulio Andreotti, was a loyal participant in the Rimini Meeting. The rise of this political movement has not diminished the prestige of the gathering, which has attracted loyal attendees from both the left and the right.
Rimini has at times been the site of highly controversial statements, such as in 2004, when a dialogue was organized there between former “black” and “red” terrorists — from neo-fascist groups and the Red Brigades — who had carried out attacks across the Italian Peninsula in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2021, against the backdrop of post-pandemic political realignment, the Rimini Meeting hosted a highly publicized debate among Italy’s leading political figures, including former prime ministers Enrico Letta and Giuseppe Conte and the leader of the Fratelli d’Italia party, Giorgia Meloni. At a time when her party was still relatively marginal, this debate served as a springboard for the politician, a little over a year before her electoral victory and her rise to the head of the government.
Leo XIV follows in the footsteps of John Paul II
The 47th edition is taking place from August 21 to 26, as always in the pavilions of the Rimini Fair. This year’s theme is taken from Dante’s Divine Comedy: “L’amore che move il sole e l’altre stelle,” which translates to “The love that moves the sun and the other stars.”
“With this title, we want to rediscover the origin and destiny of the world entrusted to us, as well as that of our own existence,” explained Meeting President Bernard Scholz on the event’s website.
During his visit on August 29, 1982, John Paul II greeted the Meeting’s participants, thanking them for expressing “the Church’s unique character and mission, which is always a historical mission, though transcendent and divine.” He urged them to build “a civilization of truth and love.”
