Welcome to our new focolare.org website!

Since her departure for heaven on the 14^th of March 2008, Chiara Lubich has been very close to us. Chiara was a great communicator. As soon as she discovered that “God loves us immensely”, she wanted to tell everyone about it, using the means available to her in those times. The hundreds of letters she wrote testify to this. She wholeheartedly embraced all means of communication and new technologies and saw them as an opportunity to spread her ideals of a united world. This is obvious in her talk “Mass Media: a Vocation for a United World” published especially for the opening of this new website.

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to Chiara. This new international website of the Focolare Movement is dedicated to her.

We have been working on the development of this new website for over a year with the help of many collaborators: the first companions of Chiara Lubich, the editorial staff which is composed of representatives of the various branches and realities of the Focolare Movement, our technical personnel and graphic designers, our translators, the zone delegates around the world and regional counsellors. It has been a great team effort and we thank each one for making it all possible.

However, the fact we are online doesn’t mean that the website is complete. On the contrary, it will be a constant “work in progress”. It will keep evolving with your suggestions and input. The aim is to present the life of the Focolare Movement in its unity and variety.

What’s new?

4 menu headings give you an overview of the whole Focolare Movement.

8 themes act as cross references to the contents, covering subjects such as economics, politics, sport, education, communications and spirituality.

Focolare Worldwide: you will be able to select a nation and find useful information about it: a map, links to Focolare sites, news and events, and contact information for significant places.

A glance at the past: A direct link on the Home Page takes you directly to “Chiara Lubich – founder”. A similar link is dedicated to Igino Giordani.

Spirituality: the Focolare “Word of Life” is one of the most popular features of the current  site. The new site will continue to give access to relevant and enriching experiences with increased use of multimedia, and will now be extended to the children and youth versions.

Headlines: a top banner will highlight current news. Colour coded photo framess  will indicate the theme of reference.

Multimedia content: Photos, audio and video will be grouped together in the “media gallery”, directly accessible from the Home Page. There will be Photo galleries for important news and events.

Towards Web 2.0: The first steps towards interactivity and sharing. With one click news can be shared with the main social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.

Direct access for children and teens, with a different content style.

Interaction with other sites: A box that brings together news from other sites with Rss feeds (Città Nuova, NetOne and others)