On 14th January 1961 Chiara Lubich met with a group of Lutherans in Germany and this encounter led her to realize that the spirituality of unity, which is based on living the Gospel, was not for Catholics only but for all Christians. In May, Chiara met Anglican Canon Bernard Pawley, in Rome who afterwards was an observer at the Second Vatican Council. On 24th May Chiara made a note in her diary: “God’s will is mutual love. Therefore, to mend this break, it is necessary to love each other.” These were the antecedents that led Chiara to found the Centre “Uno” for the unity of Christians in Rome. She appointed Igino Giordani as its director, since he had been working as one of the pioneers of ecumenism ever since 1920. The year 1961 had been a year charged with intuitions. It marked the beginning of a promising ecumenical dialogue based on living the Gospel together. As the years went by, the spirituality of unity drew the interest of Anglicans in Great Britain, and members of the Reformed Church in Switzerland, Holland and Hungary. It was received by members of various Christian churches in Europe and by Eastern Churches in the Middle East, and then by Christians in other continents. Patriarch Athenagoras I became interested in the spirituality of unity and invited Chiara to Istanbul in 1967 and encouraged its spreading in the Orthodox Churches. After 30 years of Focolare’s ecumenical involvement in 1996 another historic step was made in London. While meeting with about a thousand of Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists and Baptists who lived this spirituality of unity, Chiara sensed that a particular style of ecumenical commitment was emerging that was specific to the Movement and born from its’ spirituality: a “dialogue of life” or  a “dialogue of the people”, which was not in opposition to other forms of dialogue but in support of them. There are now Christians from over 350 Churches in five continents who promote this type of dialogue and witness that it is possible to live in unity with Christ among us. The 50th anniversary of  Centre “Uno” was celebrated in Trent, Italy at the Social Theatre on 12th March with an international ecumenical day entitled: “Chiara Lubich: a charism, a life for the unity of Christians”, which was part of an “Ecumenical Week” (11th – 16th March) in Cadine (Trent). It included eyewitness accounts of the early involvement of Chiara and the Movement and of successive developments in Focolare’s ecumenical commitment. Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said in his message: “The service and the witness given by Chiara Lubich to the promotion of Christian unity are priceless and precious gifts” because “she has traced trails of light and deeply touched the life paths of many Christians of different generations and of many ecclesial traditions.” The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I invited the Focolare spread throughout the world “to foster the ‘dialogue of life’ among the Christian people, the leaven in the ecumenical Movement,” in the knowledge that “only intense spirituality can accelerate the march toward full visible communion through the acceptance of the progress being made in the official dialogues, on the part of an ecumenically prepared populace. A message also arrived from Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit,  Secretary General of the World Council of Churches: “We remember her as a gift of God’s gracious love, inspiring, so many of us with her charisma and her spirituality of unity.” Then he recalled her first visit in 1967 in which she laid “the ground for decades of close collaboration which has benefited the fellowship  of WCC member Churches  in many ways.” The Centre “Uno” follows Focolare’s ecumenical commitment worldwide through a network of collaborators, promotes “ecumenical weeks” and ecumenical formation  courses. Central Secretariat: Centro “Uno” Via della Pedica 44 A 00046 Grottaferrata (Rome), Italy Email:  centrouno@focolare.org