Great- grandson of Blessed Placido Riccardi, born in Rome on January 16, 1950 .
His name is linked to the Community of Sant’Egidio which he founded in 1968 by bringing together a group of high school students like him to listen and put the Gospel into practice. In the space of a few years their experience spread to various student environments and took the form of activities in favor of the marginalized . In the popular neighborhoods of the Roman suburbs, the work of evangelization begins, leading to the birth of a community of adults. It is now present in more than 70 countries around the world.
Since 1981 and full university professor of contemporary history. He taught at the University of Bari , Sapienza and Roma Tre . He later received an honorary degree in theology from the Catholic University of Lublin in 2008, an honorary degree in government of the European Union and international politics from the University of Catania in 2014, an honorary doctorate from the Catholic university . of Louvain in 2004 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Friborg in 2011.
As a scholar, he devoted himself in particular to the affairs of the Catholic Church. Fortythe essays of which he is the author: the first published in 1996 entitled ‘Intransigence and modernity. The Catholic Church towards the third millennium ‘, the last one published in 2021:’ The Church is burning. Crisis and future of Christianity ‘.
His commitment to peace saw him mediate in the negotiations for the resolution of the conflict in Mozambique. The peace, signed in Rome on 4 October 1992, was the result of over two years of negotiations held in the Roman headquarters of the Community of Sant’Egidio, which earned Riccardi and Matteo Zuppi the honorary citizenship of Mozambique. In the following years, the commitment to peace continued on multiple scenarios: Guatemala , Ivory Coast and Guinea .
The magazine ‘Time’ in 2003 included him in the list of thirty-six ” Modern Heroes ” of Europe, who have distinguished themselves for their professional courage and humanitarian commitment.
Numerous honors have been conferred on him as founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio and for his intense commitment to peace: the Methodist World Peace Prize (1997), the Niwano Peace Prize from the Niwano Peace Foundation (1999), the UNESCO Felix Houphuet-Boigny Peace Prize (1999), the Legion d’Honneur of the French Republic(2002) because of his commitment “in favor of the excluded and for the just cause of reconciliation and peace” (in 2012 he received the rank of Commandeur). In 2004 the prestigious Balzan Prize for Peace and Fraternity among Peoples and in 2006 the National Culture of Peace Prize . On 21 May 2009, together with the Community of Sant’Egidio, he received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize in Aachen . He was awarded the XV Vittorino Colombo International Prize in 2011 by the Vittorino Colombo Foundation and the Municipality of Albiate. He is a member of the steering committee of ‘Italianieuropei’ which includes Massimo D’alema among the founders . On March 22, 2015 he was electedPresident of the Dante Alighieri Society . Carlo Azeglio Ciampi , in 2003, appointed him Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic “on the initiative of the President of the Republic”.
In the institutional sphere, he was part of the Monti government , holding the position of Minister for International Cooperation and Integration from 16 November 2011 to 27 April 2013 (with delegations to the family and equal opportunities).
