The presence of the people around him has a fundamental place in Pier Giorgio's life. His great faith guides him to seek and read the face of Jesus in everyone's face. His heart thus opens naturally to welcoming and understanding his brothers, their problems, their hopes, their anguish.
Pier Giorgio brings together many people, of all ages. He seeks a great value: friendship. He enjoys being able to say of one or another: "That one is my friend". Many after his death will reveal themselves to be "friends of Pier Giorgio"; among them also those who perhaps only met him once, have known his cordiality, his ability to put anyone at ease, his serene eyes that encourage you to open your heart to him.
For him, friendship is a way of experiencing the Church, as a welcoming place where everyone is loved and respected for who they are. It is a concrete way of helping each other on the path of life, which always hides pitfalls, sometimes takes on dramatic aspects and makes the support of those close to you so precious.
Pier Giorgio lives friendship with the willingness to give and also to receive. To listen, to give advice, to offer concrete help, always showing great sensitivity to the needs of friends: encouraging them, exhorting them, stimulating them, supporting them. But never with the presumption of being outside of the same problems. Rather, with the humility of someone who accepts his own poverty, but feels that it is important to know how to share what he has. Humility that means seeking and accepting the help, advice, and exhortations of friends. Asking for their closeness, often asking them to pray for him. But always without asking for anything in exchange for his own availability, for his going to meet first.
For this reason, receiving a gift is a source of great joy for him; the objects he has received are charged with the presence of the person who gave them, they are the sign of the sought-after and desired bond, they have a special scent: they tell stories of brotherly love.
In earthly life, after the affection of parents and sisters, one of the most beautiful affections is that of friendship: and I should thank God every day because He has given me such good friends who form a precious guide for me throughout my life. Every time I spend time with Clementina, I am edified by her great goodness and I think of the immense Good that such a beautiful Soul has certainly done and will do. [...] And what can I say about Laura and Tina; souls who are also so generous, before whom I often think of the ingratitude that I have used towards God, having so little corresponded to the great Graces that the Lord in His Great Mercy has always given me, not looking at my sins. The example of all three creeds has been very valid for me, especially in certain moments of life when the flesh prevails over the spirit.
Letter to Marco Beltramo – April 10, 1925
Earthly friendships cause our hearts pain at the separation of those we love, but I would like us to swear a pact that knows no earthly boundaries or temporal limits: union in prayer.
Letter to Isidoro Bonini – January 15, 1925