motivation
for the principle awards conferred on her
The import of the spirituality of unity on the various fields of human endeavor has been recognized over the years by numerous state and religious academic institutions, by international organizations and public entities through the conferral on Chiara Lubich of honorary degrees and awards:
PEACE EDUCATION PRIZE - UNESCO (Paris, December 1996)
"In an age when ethnic and religious differences too often lead to violent conflict, the expansion of the Focolare Movement has also contributed to a constructive dialogue between persons, generations, social classes and peoples.” (From the statement of motivation)
EUROPEAN PRIZE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (Strasburg, September 1998)
"The defense of individual and social rights lies at the hearts of her action in Europe and in numerous other regions around the world. Youth, adults, key civil and religious leaders are involved in actions led by Chiara Lubich which foster progress in the cause of human rights, peace and unity among individuals and peoples." (From the statement of motivation)
"DEFENDER OF PEACE" AWARD from the Gandhian Shanti Ashram and Sarvodaya Movement (India, January 2001)
“For the tireless role played by Chiara Lubich in sowing seeds of peace and love among all peoples, thus continuously reinforcing the fragile framework of peace upon which prosperity, wellbeing, culture and the spirituality of the world develops." (From the statement of motivation)
"SOUTHERN CROSS" presented by the Government of Brazil (Rome, October 1998)
"For her dedication to the highest human values of solidarity, peace and unity; for her work in favor of the progress of the Brazilian people particularly the most disadvantaged; for the promotion of the Economy of communion, a new and effective system for fighting poverty and discrimination". (From the statement of motivation)
SOCIAL SCIENCES from the Catholic University of Lublin (Poland, June 1996)
"Chiara Lubich, through the action of the Focolare Movement, has created a new phenomenon of social integration inspired by the charism of evangelical unity, which evidences new psychological, social, economic and spiritual-religious dimensions. It is a life-filled inspiration and an example of the application of a new inter-disciplinary paradigm of unity which can constitute a Copernican revolution in the social sciences,, in the current difficult phase of post-communist transition, so that they might acquire a new force of application capable of healing and preventing social pathology." (From the Laudatio offered by Faculty Head Dr. Adam Biela)
SACRED THEOLOGY from the Fu Jen University di Taiwan (Taipei, January 1997)
"The central idea of Chiara Lubich’s thought is in deep agreement with the essence of the Chinese culture: ‘To love people and respect nature’. She is a wonderful witness to the mission of this university: to develop the spirit of goodwill, to proceed towards universal brotherhood and promote communion and inter-religious collaboration". (From the statement of motivation read by the Head Rector Dr. Peter Tuen-Ho Yang)
HUMANE LETTERS from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT (USA, May 1997) for her contribution to the furthering of Jewish-Christian dialogue
"Chiara and her Movement are attempting to create a worldwide laboratory that experiences what we are trying to accomplish on a theoretical level. The work of the Focolare, Chiara’s work, will continue on in the future, because it is based on two foundations: the idea of love and the idea of unity." (Rabbi Jack Bemporad, director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding)
PHILOSOPHY from the University of “S. Juan Bautista de la Salle" in Mexico City (Mexico City, June 1997)
"Chiara Lubich is one of the most important religious and social leaders of the XX century. She has contributed in a very relevant way to orienting contemporary society towards gospel-based values which represent the foundations for a civilization of peace, progress and love" (from the Motivation) "The wisdom that we now wish to recognize in Chiara is the light which she has received and which she offers to the world, illuminating and penetrating all the sciences; the new way which brings the world to actualize human dignity.” (From the Laudatio delivered by Vice-Rector, Padre Rafael Martinez Cervantes).
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY HONORARY DEGREE from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina, April 1998)
"Chiara Lubich is an extraordinary example of prophetic and liberating humanism containing thought, sentiment and action. She passes on a message that goes beyond social and cultural differences, that overcomes barriers and religious diversity, that generates those conditions which foster true dialogue. Hers is a radical proposal defining the possibility of bridges joining the different arenas of knowledge, where the right to an existence of a plurality of theories is preserved as an expression of the limitless creativity of the human mind. And this is truly the ideal of a university which is open, pluralistic, tolerant and democratic as a Institute of higher learning should be.” (From the Laudatio offered by Prof. Alicia de Camilloni)
HUMANISM AND THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION from the Catholic University of S. Paolo (Brazil, May 1998)
"A spirituality which is sowing the seeds of a new humanism, a ‘radicalism of love’ which the Pope has emphasized, which is made concrete in the Economy of Communion, in the Movement’s little cities, in the ecumenical, inter-religious and cultural dialogue and in numerous social initiatives in a society renewed by love." (From the Laudatio offered by Prof. Elizabeth Nazar Carrazza)
ECONOMICS from the Catholic University of Pernambuco (Brazil, May 1998)
“The Economy of Communion is an economic system born from a rich spirituality that fosters an intensely lived Gospel life, which overflows into the social and economic arenas. It transforms the waters of fierce capitalist competition into the wine of a human symphony of exchange.” (From the Laudatio offered by the Rector of the University Fr. Theodoro Peters, s.j.)
ECONOMICS from Sacred Heart University in Milan – Piacenza campus (Piacenza, January 1999)
"For having restored altruism to its rightful place in the field of economic analysis, so that individual and social wellbeing is not considered only on the basis of the utility deriving from the use of goods, rather in understanding the social dimension and the focus to help the development of the person.” (From the Laudatio offered by Prof. Vito Moramarco, Head of the Faculty of Economics)
LETTERS AND PSYCHOLOGY from the University of Malta (Malta, February 1999)
"For the significant contribution to the field of thought, in so far as she has translated the Christian message into methods of research and she has offered the humanistic disciplines an original key for entering the subject. She has thus contributed to cultivating an integral vision on the person in the field of psychology and she has promoted the development of new pedagogical methods in the field of education." (From the statement of motivation)
ARTS from the Catholic University of Maracaibo (Venezuela, 22 July 2003)
"For the spirituality of Chiara Lubich which, rooted in the heart of the Trinity, from the sources of Catholic Christianity, has brought about the birth of a human-spiritual doctrine that is capable of giving new meaning to the sciences and life to a new humanism"; "because she is the author of countless writings that have touched the deepest fibers of the human heart and have been the source of inspiration for the works of many artists also because of the beauty of her literary works"; "for her specific charism, unity, which can be translated into highest harmony, the objective and true essence of art in all its manifestations." (From the statement of motivation)
THEOLOGY OF CONSECRATED LIFE from the Lateran Pontifical University (Rome, October 2004)
"For having elaborated a doctrine on the charisms of consecrated life, with the singular intuition of the unfolding of Christ across the centuries, as a living gospel across time; for the opening of a spirituality of communion – characteristic of the Focolare – to the various forms of consecrated life (there are tens of thousands of men and women religious in contact with this spirituality); for having created an original form of consecrated life, the Focolare." (From the statement of motivation)
