Article: Sant'Egidio: linking friendship and service in world-changing ways: though previously little known in the United States, a Catholic lay movement started 40 years ago by high school students in Rome is gaining members in U.S. cities.(COVER STORY: SANT'EGIDIO AT 40)(Cover story)

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The Piazza of Santa Maria in Trastevere is about as picturesque as you'd expect of any Roman piazza. There's a fountain in the middle, ringed by steps where Roman youth lounge and loiter. From inside the basilica that dominates the square, one can hear the teenagers outside, improbably singing Irish drinking songs to guitar accompaniment. And beneath the basilica's outer columns, as in many parks, piazzas and train stations throughout Rome tonight, a beggar huddles in the still-chilly March evening, beseeching passersby for pity and euros.

Dusk here sees the recommencement of a 40-year-old ritual as hundreds of worshipers filter ...

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