Mirrors: The Jubilee of Volunteerism

Can we live each day in the spirit of "service"—that revolutionary word so often misunderstood? We can, or at least we can try, as a conversation between journalist Benedetta Capelli and Vincenzo Trapani Lombardo makes clear. At 74, this Calabrian physician has made Christian service his compass. A hematologist and director of the United Hospitals of Reggio Calabria and the hospice Via delle Stelle, he is a member of Unitalsi and co-founder of the medical clinic serving Arghillà, a neighborhood on Reggio's outskirts that began in the 1980s as a residential zone and quickly became a place of neglect and lawlessness. Trapani Lombardo is the subject of the third episode of Mirrors, a podcast from Vatican News dedicated to the thematic Jubilees of 2025. Truly listening to the patient, listening to their family, bringing both heart and skill to the power of relationship—this is what fills Trapani Lombardo's days. And as Capelli notes, his daily work echoes the words of Don Mazzolari: "We do not enter into another person as into a fortress, but as one enters a forest on a beautiful sunny day. We enter a person not to take possession, but as a guest, with respect, to help them become themselves, to be who they truly are."