For those who belong to the Focolare Movement dialogue is not a matter of opinion. Even a glance at the stages in its development (see timeline) will show that the Movement was not born sitting around a planning table, but by an inspiration through the charism that the Holy Spirit wished to bestow on a young woman from Trent (Northern Italy). Since the earliest years numerous incidents occurring with Chiara Lubich and her first companions pointed out a way of total acceptance of others no matter who they were. And acceptance is the first step in dialogue.

For those who belong to the Focolare Movement dialogue is not a matter of opinion. Even a glance at the stages in its development (see timeline) will show that the Movement was not born sitting around a planning table, but by an inspiration through the charism that the Holy Spirit wished to bestow on a young woman from Trent (Northern Italy). Since the earliest years numerous incidents occurring with Chiara Lubich and her first companions pointed out a way of total acceptance of others no matter who they were. And acceptance is the first step in dialogue.

Looking then at the spreading of the Movement in the world, it will appear clear that the rapid growth of the spirit of unity cannot be attributed only to words that were spoken between a few people, into a microphone, or on the radio to reach new frontiers, but to love that is lived out according to the art of loving that Chiara had always proposed as the one and only “method” for spreading – “making yourself one”. It is a phrase borrowed from Saint Paul (“I have become all things to all people”) and, for the Movement, this has always been the only “method” used in spreading, the principal method of evangelization.

Considering the vast spreading of the Movement, it is obvious that the spirituality of unity conquered the hearts and the souls of persons of every social category because of its uncompromising openness to humankind and its needs. An openness expressed primarily in an attitude of dialogue in every field, time and place.

Therefore, in the Focolare dialogue is to be understood in its strongest sense, in its Gospel sense, in which we do not sacrifice our own identity in order to reach compromises of any sort, but precisely because of the identity we have, we are able to reach out to another who is “different from us” in a spirit of openness.

On 24 January 2002 when she and Andrea Riccardi were called to Assisi to speak on behalf of the Catholic Church before the pope and other religious leaders of the world, following the collapse of the Twin Towers, Chiara wished to underscore that the Church’s attitude is “all dialogue”. She recalled the Church’s four dialogues: the one within the Church itself, the ecumenical dialogue, the relationship with the faithful of other religions and the dialogue with people who do not profess any religious creed. These are precisely the four dialogues that the Church identified during Vatican II, in Paul VI’s encyclical Ecclesium Suam, as ways of being in relationship with the world in all its various facets.

In 1991 Chiara wrote: “Jesus considers as allies and friends all those who battle against evil and work, often without realizing it, for the coming of God’s Reign. Jesus asks a love from us that is able to become dialogue; that is, a love, that far from closing us proudly within the precincts of our own little worlds, is able to open itself to everyone, and to work together with other people of good will for the building of peace and unity in our world. Therefore, let us try to open our eyes to the neighbours that we meet, to admire the good they do, no matter what their beliefs may be, to feel solidarity with them and to encourage each other on the path of justice and of love.”