At 14.00 today, at the Holy See Press Office, Via della Conciliazione 54, a press conference was held to present the “Concert with the Poor”, now in its sixth edition, which will take place on Saturday 6 December at 17.30 in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican.

The speakers were: Monsignor Marco Frisina, director of the Choir of the Diocese of Rome; Mr. Michael Bublé, artist; and Ms. Serena Autieri, artist.

The following is the intervention of Monsignor Marco Frisina:

Intervention of Msgr. Marco Frisina

Dear friends,

It is a joy to be here today to present the Sixth Edition of the Concert with the Poor in the Vatican. This event, born almost as a tiny seed in 2015, continues to grow and to surprise us. Every year we discover that music, when it is placed at the service of fraternity, becomes a meeting place where the poor truly become protagonists, and not simply the recipients of attention.

This year we will have a particularly great gift: for the first time His Holiness Pope Leo XIV will participate in a public concert in the Paul VI Hall, and for the first time a Pontiff will attend this initiative of ours. His presence is not only a reason for emotion, but a strong pastoral sign: it tells us that the Church recognizes, in the beauty of a language capable of speaking to the heart, even when wounded, and of generating hope.

The programme we will listen to tomorrow, 6 December, will be like a short Christmas tale. We will open with music that speaks of the faith of the Church – ancient hymns, popular pastorals, hymns to the joy of the birth of the Lord – and then move on to the great symphonic and contemporary repertoire. I am grateful to Serena Autieri, who will accompany the audience on this journey again this year, and in particular to Michael Bublé, who accepted the invitation with sincere emotion. His willingness to sing before the Pope, for and with the poor, with a programme prepared especially for this occasion, is a precious gift that testifies to how music can unite different worlds.

But what gives value to this Concert are not numbers or names: it is people. Over 3,000 brothers and sisters in need, invited as guests of honour, remind us that closeness is not an abstract concept but a face, an encounter, an outstretched hand. Even the hot dinner they will receive at the end of the concert is a small sign of care that complements the language of beauty with that of practicality.

In this time of environmental, social and cultural crisis, we also wanted care for the common home to be an integral part of the Concert. Thanks to our established collaboration with AzzeroCO₂, we are able to make the event increasingly sustainable: measuring emissions, certified offsetting, planting trees, protecting monumental trees, and even the symbolic gift of a cypress tree linked to the memory of Saint Francis: all this reminds us that hope is not announced, it is witnessed.

I warmly thank the Nova Opera Foundation for its great organizational commitment, our main partner WeScience - Intelligence in life for its great support, and all our partners and sponsors for their great generosity, which makes it possible to organize such a large-scale event, totally free of charge.

Heartfelt and sincere thanks are due to His Eminence Cardinal Baldo Reina, Vicar of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome for his affectionate encouragement and active accompaniment; thank you to the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, the Nova Opera Orchestra, the volunteers, the the charitable organizations and voluntary associations, and all those who make this initiative possible.

Once again, sincere thanks to the Dicastery for the Service of Charity and to all those who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare, organize, and ensure the success of the event. What we are accomplishing together is an act of faith: we believe that beauty can heal wounds, that fraternity can overcome loneliness, and that music can become shared prayer.

In the heart of the Jubilee Year of Hope, it is our wish that this Concert may be a door to pass through: to recognize that no-one is too poor to give, and no-one is too rich to have no need of others.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow in the Paul VI Hall to live, together, an evening in which art becomes encounter and hope becomes song.