Chiesa di Santa Maria Madre del Redentore

It was designed by the architect Pierluigi Spadolini, with a roof by the engineer Riccardo Morandi, and was built between 1985 and 1987. The church was built by Impresa Dioguardi S.p.A. of Bari. The church is a parish church, erected by decree of the Cardinal Vicar Ugo Poletti on 1 October 1985. Since 1988 it has been the seat of the cardinal title of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore a Tor Bella Monaca. Externally, the church appears as a tent with a very wide base that rises towards the sky, becoming increasingly narrower, until it transforms into two pinnacles that point upwards. From a theological point of view, it represents the place of the Christian community that welcomes the multitude of the faithful, who with one voice raise their prayers to God, represented by the two slender pinnacles, a stylization of two hands joined in prayer. A special technical device ensures that the two pinnacles trace, towards their summit, a cross, visible only in the sunlight that passes through it. A large space in front serves as an entrance to the sacred building. The interior of the church is dominated by the imposing 15-meter-high cross, which is placed behind the presbytery, and is illuminated by the light that comes down from above. Recalling an ancient symbolism, the cross is not represented by two crossed pieces of wood, but by a stylised tree; furthermore, the crucifix is ​​not depicted dead or dying, but, as in ancient oriental iconography, it is depicted as a living king, seated on the cross as if it were a throne. According to the evangelical story, Mary and John were at the foot of the cross; the sculptor Mario Ceroli wanted to represent these two characters with the features of John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta: in fact, the male figure has a skullcap on his head, and in his hands he holds a text in which the title Sollicitudo Rei Socialis can be read; the female figure instead wears a sari. Also rich in symbolism are:
1) the altar, shaped like a small boat to recall the image of the ship of the church sailing in the sea of ​​history;
2) the ambo, the place of the announcement of the word of God that prevails over human words, represented by the columns, all different from each other, that compose it;
3) the baptismal font, a real fountain, whose water gushes from a globe placed in the center and composed of polychrome marble inlays, to indicate that everyone is called to faith in Christ, despite the variety of cultures;
4) the tabernacle in the shape of a small temple, on whose door is depicted Christ offering bread and on the sides figures of angels and men.