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Ärende: Press Release (070609) for Sat, 2007 Jun 9
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President Bush Participates in Roundtable on Humanitarian and Volunteer
Efforts
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 9, 2007

President Bush Participates in Roundtable on Humanitarian and Volunteer
Efforts U.S. Embassy Rome, Italy

˙˙White House News

˙˙˙˙˙ G8 Summit 2007

1:01 P.M. (Local)

THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank the good folks of Sant'Egidio for joining
us. Sant'Egidio is one of the great faith-based organizations in the world.
And we're here to talk about our common commitment to help the poor, feed
the hungry, and help eradicate disease. The United States is firmly
committed to helping the people on the continent of Africa. And we've
committed in our -- and we'll work with our Congress to spend $30 billion
to deal with HIV/AIDS, over a billion to deal with malaria, billions to
deal with hunger, money to deal with education.

But these programs cannot be effective without loving people on the ground,
helping a neighbor in need. I want to thank you for being a part of these
international army of compassion. I thank you for hearing the call to love
a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. I'm looking forward to
hearing your strategies in dealing with some of the more difficult problems
in the world. I'm proud of your organization, and I thank all members of
your organization for being such loving souls.

Thank you for having us here.

MR. IMPAGLIAZZO: Thank you, Mr. President. Before our strategy, some little
word about our community, with your permission.

MR. PRESIDENT: Please.

MR. IMPAGLIAZZO: The community of Sant'Egidio was born in Rome, in this
city, in 1968. At that time the West was wondering about its future and the
young people were looking for something. Andrea Riccardi, who is the
founder of our community, was a student at the time in a high school of
Rome. He called some of his fellow students to listen and to live according
to the gospel, gospel of Jesus.

In those years, people believed that the revolution would change the world.
Andrea understood that there would have been no lasting chance unless the
people's hearts were touched by the word of Jesus. This word put into
practice, man, first of all, to be friends with the poor.

Today, there are communities of Sant'Egidio in 70 countries, with 60,000
members all over the world. Its spirituality is founded on several pillars
-- just three pillars, Mr. President. First, prayer, which takes place
every day in all our communities -- a personal prayer, reading the
Scripture every day, but also common prayer. It means that every day,
60,000 people open the Scriptures. They read it and pray to the Lord from
the beautiful churches of Rome -- like the Basilica of Santa Maria,
Trastevere, that you would have visited -- to the hearts of Africa, or so
many places in the immense lands of Latin America. Mr. President, prayer is
our friend.

The second pillar is mission, reaching out to all those who seek and ask
for a sense of their rights.

Finally, the third pillar, solidarity with the poor. There's a voluntary
service carried out for free because no one is paid for his service to the
poor in our community, no one.

Gratuitousness, Mr. President, is what our society is missing today.
Everything is there to buy or to sell. But Jesus said, you received without
payment, give without payment, Jesus said. This word of Jesus is the serve
of our member's work. In our study, one thing has always proved, too, there
is no loss for the poor without pay.

Christians must live with the freeness of the heart. One never has the
solution to everything, but we must not close our hearts when we do not
have a solution. We are all the window of the world. That is why we cannot
forget demands of the poor peoples of the world.

So what is striking in our thought is that these signs, signs of
resurrection, to praise in those very places where it seems there is no
hope left, like Africa. With your permission, Mr. President, I would like
to pass now the floor to my friends who work every day in Africa.

Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

Thank you all.

END 1:06 P.M. (Local)

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