Pompeo Piva
(22.06.1933 - 06.02.2009)
It is not easy to write these lines so shortly after news of don Pompeo's death for someone, like many other ISE attendees, who for many years had the opportunity to enjoy his friendly presence in addition to his theological expertise. Don Pompeo's presence at ISE is interwoven with the history of the origins of the Institute and its Veronese phase. Don Pompeo accompanied the progress of ISE from several points of view, firstly as a theologian bravely opening the way to research and teaching of ethical topics in an Ecumenical perspective which proved crucial for dialogue among Churches. As a teacher he was renowned for his ability to engage the audience at his lectures, never trivial or purely academic, but always exhibiting his deep humanity and expertise that came also from his longstanding activity as a confessor (he always devoted himself to this commitment, being convinced this was a privileged position in which to practise his presbyteral ministry). As a lecturer he accepted and patiently supervised many theses and many students who gained from him more than a mere intellectual reference. As the vice-president of ISE, he was always open to handing out advice derived from his long teaching experience as well as his personal friendship with those who, in time, took on the various institutional roles at ISE.
Two aspects in particular deserve to be underlined about his life as a man and as a theologian: his passion for truth and his enduring love for the Church. Passion for truth which Don Pompeo interpreted as a constant effort to understand the ever more rich and varied facets of the human imagination, through which the Spirit manifests the Risen Christ to humanity, placing the event of salvation as the root of Christian ethical life. In don Pompeo's opinion, the event of salvation was able to shatter our established certainties in order to take us to a deeper and personal search for God's will. In don Pompeo's view, this search, extended from ethics to spirituality, which he did not believe essentially different from moral reflection, to economics when the dream of a Christian entrepreneur was combined with the ability to listen to practical stories of business people to scrutinize them under the light of the spirituality of that same economic life. This same search explores the essence of married life, which was the topic of his early theological interest. Don Pompeo's enduring love for the Church was always visualized as a reality capable of letting the face of Christ show in its complex manifestations, and he found it difficult to accept division, conflict, and obstruction in the defence of positions that cared more about the will to preserve rather than risk walking the history of men and women with solidarity. In this way, Ecumenism becomes a medicine for the fracturing among Churches and also a place where the voice of the Spirit could speak within each single Church.
Those who met him as a teacher and as a colleague were able to learn from his deep knowledge of theological tradition and from his creative and unusual skill in referring to Thomas as well as to the reformers, to the Bible and to the teachings of the Church, the latter were investigated with the demanding eye of someone who asks for consistency related to the importance of the communicator's role. Furthermore they received a profound lesson in humanity during don Pompeo's last years of poor health, although always maintaining a great intellectual and spiritual lucidity.
That is why entrusting to God His servant, paradoxally we miss his learned and encouraging words and, at the same time, the concrete fruits that his long teaching planted in the life of our Ecumenical community.
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