Chiara Lubich
Founder and President
"God is Love,
and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him".
These words from the First letter of John
express with remarkable clarity
the heart of the Christian faith:
"We have come … to believe in the love God has for us".
Christians might thus express
the basic choice of their lives.
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea,
but the encounter with an event,
a Person,
which gives life a new horizon
and a decisive direction".
Benedict XVI
The inspiring spark: God is Love
It is precisely the discovery of God as Love that opened up a new horizon and marked the decisive choice of direction made not only in the life of Chiara Lubich but in the lives of millions of people.
During World War II, in Trent, under the bombings that caused immense destruction, Chiara, then in her early twenties, against a background of hatred and violence, made the discovery of God who is Love, the only ideal that no bomb could destroy. It was a powerful experience, “stronger than the bombs that were falling on Trent", which Chiara immediately communicated to her closest friends. Their lives changed radically. They declared that, should they be killed, they wished to have only one inscription carved on their tomb: "And we have believed in love".
This discovery opened up a new horizon and became the goal of their life: to help bring about the fulfillment of Jesus’ priestly prayer: "that all may be one", his plan of unity for the human family.
The Gospel put into practice in every dimension of human life
Chiara immediately sensed that something was coming to life that would reach the very ends of the earth and that would bring light and renewal to society.
She recognized in this rediscovery of the Gospel not only its enormous spiritual import, but also that it had the capability of bringing about the most powerful social revolution ever. The first testing ground: in the early 40s among the needy in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of Trent. She and her companions shared their few possessions with them. They experienced the truth of the Gospel promises: "give and it will be given to you", "ask and you shall receive". In the midst of the hardships of wartime, an unexpected amount of food, clothing and medicine came into their hands so that they could take care of the needs of many.
The key to unity
In the numberless countenances of suffering, division and human tragedy, Chiara recognized the face of Christ, the God made man who, on the cross, cried out his sense of abandonment by the Father. In Him Chiara found the key for recomposing unity with God, and persons with one another.
It is first of all in these faces of suffering that Chiara read the signs of the will of God that was leading her to give life to something new, the Focolare Movement which, through the variety of it composition, soon came to form a "people", a "laboratory" for a united world based on brotherhood.
Chiara has repeated that this work "was not conceived only in a human mind. The idea came from Above. Usually it’s the circumstances that manifest what God wants. We try to follow His will day by day."
Unity among individuals, social categories and peoples, was constantly presented as the first commitment of the entire Movement, and the thrust towards this goal was nourished by Chiara’s writings, talks, meetings, trips which kept first and foremost the original inspiration and total commitment of the charism.
New ways opened up by a new charism
Studying the main steps in the development of the Movement, the new ways opened up by this charism come into relief. They go beyond normal expectations and they offer an answer to the urgent needs emerging in humanity.
A new spirituality in the Church – From the uncompromising response to a God who is love, through the lessons of the Gospel put into practice, a new current of spirituality, the spirituality of unity, which – since it is centered on love and unity, elements imbedded in the human heart – will prove to be more and more universal.
In this new spirituality, born in the Church, an ever greater number of men and women of all backgrounds, ages, races and cultures will find spiritual vigor. After only a few years, the Catholics were joined by Christians of different Churches, and later by members of the Jewish faith, by the faithful of other religious traditions, and by persons of good will present in 182 countries.
The birth of specific movements as tools for reaching unity: for the new generations, for families, for actions in the social field and in the Church. Forms of dialogue prove particularly adapt at building unity; under Chiara’s guidance and encouragement models of a new society develop: little cities begin to take shape on 5 continents. To carry the news of a culture of unity, the means of communication are developed: publishing houses, magazines and periodicals, audiovisual centers, internet web sites.
New perspectives in the most diverse social fields open up for her, starting in the early 90s, for example, in economics when, in 1991, faced with the enormous inequality in a country like Brazil, Chiara started the Economy of communion; and in the political arena with the birth in 1996 of the Movement for unity in politics which proposes to politicians of all different affiliations ‘brotherhood’ as a political category, in view of the common good.
It began with a ‘Yes’
Chiara Lubich was born in Trent, on January 22, 1920. During the period of Fascism she lives years of poverty: her socialist father lost his job on account of his political convictions. To maintain herself through her studies she gave private lessons.
She was baptized Silvia. She later took the name Chiara, attracted as she was by the example of the Gospel-based radicality of the life of St. Claire of Assisi.
On December 7, 1943 Chiara solemnly pronounced her yes to God forever in the church of the Capuchin Friars in Trent. She was alone. She was 23 years old. There were no signs of what her future held. The beginnings of the Movement are traditionally marked by this date.
Searching for the Truth, searching for God – This radical choice of life marked the first step in the impassioned journey of searching for the Truth, for a deeper knowledge of God. To find an answer, after finishing school, she registered in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Venice, but she was unable to continue her studies, first due to the outbreak of World War II and then in order to guide and sustain the newly born movement. She realized that she would find the answer to her search in Jesus who had said: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Love". He would be her Teacher.
Loreto, a milestone along the way of her spiritual journey. In 1939 Chiara took part in a conference for young people belonging to the organization called Catholic Action, held in Loreto, in central Italy. There a Shrine encloses a structure which, according to tradition, housed the Holy Family at Nazareth. While visiting the shrine Chiara experienced an intuition of what her vocation would be: a reproduction of the family of Nazareth, a new vocation in the Church, and she sensed that many others would follow her way.
In the Catholic Church
The first audience with the Pope – In 1964 Chiara was received for the first time in an audience with the Pope, then Pope Paul VI, who recognized in the Movement a "work of God". Many other papal audiences would follow, again with Paul VI and later with John Paul II – private and public audiences, and their participation during some of the Movement’s large international gatherings.
In 1984 John Paul II visited the Movement’s International headquarters in Rocca di Papa. He recognized in the Movement the features of the Church of the Council, and in its charism an expression of the "radicalism of love" that characterizes the gifts of the Spirit bestowed throughout the history of the Church.
Since Pentecost 1998, a new common journey has begun among movements and new communities in the Church – At the first mass gathering of members of ecclesial movements and new communities, on the vigil of the feast of Pentecost 1998 in St. Peter’s Square, John Paul II recognized in these new ecclesial realities the answer of the Holy Spirit to the ongoing process of the de-Christianization of society. He called on them to bring about "mature fruits of communion and commitment". In her address, as in that of the three other founders who spoke, Chiara Lubich assured the Pope of the fullest commitment to bringing about this communion "with all our strength". From then on a common journey of brotherhood and fruitful exchange among members of many different movements and new communities began around the world.
At Synods and at the Assemblies of various bishops’ conferences – Chiara has been invited to participate in various Synods that took place in the Vatican: for the XXth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (1985), the Synod on the Vocation and Mission of the Laity (1987), and on Europe (1990 e 1999). She was nominated Counselor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity (1985).
In 1997 she was invited to speak about the Movement to the General Assembly of the bishops’ council in Manila, the Philippines, and subsequently, over the years by the bishops’ conferences of Taiwan, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Poland, India, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Austria.
Ecumenism
The ecumenical chapter of the Movement opened in 1961, at a time when Pope John XXIII placed Christian unity among the chief goals of the Council, which he announced in 1959: Chiara shared her experience of life based on the Gospel as lived by the Movement at a meeting with a group of Evangelical Lutherans in Darmstadt, Germany.
That meeting marked the beginning of the spreading of the spirituality of unity in many different Churches.
A few years later personal exchanges occurred:
in the Orthodox world, with the Ecumenical Patriarch Constantinople, Athenagoras I, and later with his successors;
in the Anglican Communion, beginning with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsey, up to the present leader Dr. Rowan Williams;
in the Evangelical-Lutheran world, with the former president of the world Lutheran Federation, Bishop Christian Krause, and with the General Secretaries of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
All warmly encouraged the spreading of the spirituality of unity in their different Churches.
Interreligious Dialogue
Faced with the challenges of modern-day society, ever more multi-cultural and multi-religious, important fruits of peace in ongoing dialogue with persons of different faith traditions have grown and flourished since the 70s.
Chiara and the Movement have initiated contacts not only with individual leaders or followers of different religions but also with entire Movements.
Buddhists – the first Christian woman to do so, Chiara Lubich shared her spiritual experience, in 1981, in a temple in Tokyo before 10.000 Buddhists, and in 1997 in Thailand to Buddhist monks, both men and women.
Muslims – a few months later, in the historic Malcolm Shabbazz mosque in Harlem, New York, before 3000 African-American Muslims;
Jews – that same year in Buenos Aires Chiara was welcomed as the guest speaker of a widespread Jewish organization.
Hindus - In 2001 she visited India: a new page opened in the ongoing work of dialogue between members of the Focolare and the Hindu world.
In 1994 she was nominated honorary president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP).
In the civic arena
From its onset, the peaceful evangelical revolution that began in Trent aroused the interest also of persons who practiced no particular religious faith. With the secular world, a fruitful dialogue developed on the basis of honored human values such as solidarity, brotherhood, justice, peace and unity among individuals, groups and peoples.
Chiara was invited to speak about the unity of peoples at a Symposium held at the United Nations in New York in May 1997.
She offered an address in Bern, Switzerland, during the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Swiss Constitution (March 1998).
In Strasburg she spoke about the social and political initiatives of the Movements to a group of deputies to the European parliament (September 1998).
Once again in Strasburg she addressed the Conference for the 50th anniversary of the European Council on the topic "Market society, democracy, citizenship and solidarity", presenting the experience of the Economy of Communion (June 1999).
In Innsbruck, Austria, at the convention entitled "1000 cities for Europe", she spoke on the "Spirit of brotherhood in politics as the key to the unity of Europe and the world" before an audience of numerous mayors, leaders in European politics and high-level Austrian political leaders (November 2001).
The work in favor of unity, peace and dialogue among peoples, religions and cultures promoted by Chiara Lubich came to be publicly recognized by international cultural and religious organizations: from the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (1977), to the UNESCO Peace Education Prize in 1996, to the Human Rights Prize awarded by the Council of Europe (1998); from the honorary degrees conferred by various institutions of higher learning in different countries, to the honorary citizenships awarded her. She has also received recognition from the leaders of the world’s religions and the heads of many different churches.
