The ‘Pre-Assembly Process’ is currently underway in preparation for the General Assembly of the Focolare Movement, which will begin on the 1st of March 2026 in Castel Gandolfo (Italy) with the participation of representatives chosen from different geographical areas, branches and movements; the members by right (those who are part of the current government, the General Council and Zone Delegates in the geographical areas), and those invited by the President.
We interviewed Prof. Vincenzo Di Pilato, professor of Fundamental Theology and a member of the Preparatory Commission for the 2026 General Assembly, about the preparation process and his personal experience.
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The concluding residential week of the first year of the two-year political action training programme will be held from 26th January-1st February 2026. The programme is promoted by the New Humanity NGO of the Focolare Movement in collaboration with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the support of the Porticus Foundation.
Using the Hackathon methodology, the event will bring together 100 young leaders from different cultures and political beliefs, from the five continents, who are engaged in political and social life in their own countries. Following months of intensive online work, the young people will meet in Rome in person to translate the learning journey which they shared remotely, into proposals for political impact. The challenge they will face is to design processes and tools capable of addressing the critical issues that emerge in the exercise of political power, in relationships and in political institutions.
Great attention will be paid to the participatory dimension of public policies, leading to the definition of shared pathways that will be assessed and presented during an evening open to the public, to young people and interested politicians.
Javier Baquero, a young Colombian politician and President of the international Political Movement for Unity (MPPU) explained, “Today we are facing very serious problems. We must foster a political culture that sees humanity as one and the planet as our common home. In our opinion, there is a different paradigm that we must explore and experiment with together, learning to compose our different visions starting from some universal values.”
Argia Albanese, President of MPPU Italy agreed, “A meaningful response to the needs of our peoples cannot rely solely on the reform of institutions or from a purely managerial approach, which often seems devoid of democratic content. Our starting point must continue to be the social and community bond rooted in universal fraternity and sisterhood.”
The week concludes the interdisciplinary training focused on integral ecology, civil economy, collaborative governance and generative communication, which began in May 2025 with the support of experts from various academic institutions: Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands), Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), Georgetown University (Washington DC), University of the Philippines, Universidade de Ribeirão Preto (Brazil), Escuela Superior de Administración Pública Bogotá (Colombia), University of Dschang (Cameroon), Sophia University Institute (Italy).
The week in Rome includes:
Two Hackathon days, in which the participants, divided into language groups, will seek solutions to collective problems.
Dialogues with experts and policy makers to connect reflection and proposals within a broad international framework.
A public meeting to present the Hackathon outcomes and to engage with politicians active at various levels and from different perspectives.
Visits and workshop activities in Rome at research and social engagement centres (which support migrants, women’s rights, climate justice, unemployment and disarmament).
Workshops to set up the global network for the second year and its governance.
There will be a much-anticipated audience with Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, 31st January. Representatives of the MPPU Centres who will come to Rome for the occasion will also participate and will have the opportunity to evaluate the results of the experience with the participants and to plan the next steps.
It is an intensive workshop designed to develop solutions to collective problems. The idea comes from the world of digital innovation, applying the logic of “doing together and doing it quickly” to the civic sphere.
By integrating political, administrative, economic, communication, social and technological skills, the process unfolds in several phases: analysis of problems and needs, definition of priorities and stakeholders, development of operational proposals and tools for public action.
Within the framework of the themes explored throughout the year, participants will address challenges such as corruption, oligarchic governance, media monopolies, polarization, crisis of representation and electoral abstention.
In the time available, with the support of the coaches, each group will move from problem identification to strategic proposal, building problem maps, analysing available data and designing implementable ideas. At the end, the groups will present their solutions: prototypes of intervention plans, political initiatives and cultural impact projects, participatory models and communication methods and strategies.
The added value lies not only in the ideas developed, but also in the method, which demonstrated how solutions to public problems can be co-designed with creativity and rigour, enhancing and integrating different perspectives, in the search for effective solutions to increase the quality and values of a way of living politics at the service of the unity of the human family.
I am an Anglican priest from Uganda and I came to know the spirituality of the Focolare Movement fifteen years ago, when I was in the seminary for ministerial formation. This spirituality has shaped me in an integral way – myself, my family and my Church because it expresses in an exemplary manner, two fundamental aspects: Love and Unity. Nowhere in the Bible do we find Scripture that emphasizes division, separation, hatred, malice, tribalism, denominational divisions, or racial segregation. On the contrary, the Bible calls us to unity and love between people, even when there are differences. We are called, above all, to love our neighbour, because through loving our neighbour we love God. In this way I have learned to see Jesus in every person who is close to me (cf. Mt 25) and I experience great peace every time I share what little I have with those in need.
In one of his last prayers before the Ascension, in John 17:21, Jesus says: “that they may be one, just as I am one with you, Father”. This implies that unity should be our goal in life. Thanks to this awareness, I have had the opportunity to meet and dialogue with many people of different denominations: Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and also with people of other religions, Buddhists and followers of traditional religions, at all levels and in all age groups. This has given me a broader view of how to live and approach life in an integral way. I have experienced the joy of recognizing them as brothers and sisters.
I have also seen Bishops of the Anglican Church of Uganda welcome this spirituality through our experience, expression of life and witness. Currently, five bishops are friends of the Movement, including the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda. Some of them also participated in the international ecumenical conferences of Bishops organized by the Focolare Movement.
Currently we have started a communion group at Uganda Christian University, with the intention of practicing the aspect of love and unity among young people and university students; at the same time, we also transmit the value of “Ubuntu”[1], within the Together for a New Africa initiative, in which I participate as a tutor of this second round. After all this, people often ask me questions that I struggle to answer: “Why are you always happy? Don’t you ever get angry? You are always available. Don’t you have other things to do? Why are you so generous?” My answer has always been: “Do good, the reward is in Heaven”.
After the four Gospels of the New Testament, the fifth Gospel that everyone should read is that of the “you”, in the other person. We must see ourselves as a living witness, so that in our works and actions the image of God may be reflected, doing to others what we would like to be done to us. Putting into practice what the Bible teaches: to love God with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our soul, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Reverend Canonico Bwanika Michael Eric
[1]Ubuntu is a word of Bantu origin from sub-Saharan Africa that expresses a philosophy of life focused on compassion, respect and human interdependence, summarized in the maxim “I am because we are”, emphasizing that the individual is realized through community, sharing and collective well-being.
2026 will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Città Nuova magazine. It was the 14th of July 1956 when, in Fiera di Primiero in northern Italy, during a summer meeting of the Focolare Movement called Mariapolis, the foundress and first president of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich, had the idea of creating a “newsletter” so that all the participants could keep in contact.
Since then, thousands of publications have followed, and Città Nuova has always been committed to looking at the facts, reading and exploring current events from the perspective of universal fraternity. It is committed to dialogue on uncomfortable issues, to be close to the most fragile and the forgotten, to build bridges, to be present in the wounds of humanity, to highlight seeds of peace and hope, with a global horizon that looks towards a united world.
As the Movement spread throughout the world, editions were launched in different countries. Today there are 32 editions in 21 languages, both in print and online.
Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, addressed a video message on the 7th of January 2026 in which she stated that “today, faced with the terrible threats of our time – wars, polarisation of all kinds, environmental crises, an economy often based on exploitation, ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence – Città Nuova still and always chooses dialogue:
it chooses peace as a difficult but essential pursuit,
it chooses to believe that every encounter, every thought, every word can contribute to changing the direction of the world.”
Here is the complete video message. Activate the subtitles and choose the language you desire.
“In the midst of the darkness we are living through today in Venezuela, we remember that we are not alone. Under the roar of the bombs in 1943, Chiara Lubich discovered that there is an Ideal that nothing and no one can destroy: God loves us immensely.”
This is how the “Message of hope and unity” begins. It was shared on the evening of 5th January by the Venezuelan Gen (the young people who adhere to the spirituality of the Focolare Movement), both those who live in Venezuela and those in other parts of the world. They met online to pray and to share how each one is living this critical time for the whole population, never forgetting the choice to love everyone. There was a strong sense of the need to face together what they described as a “sacred” time: “we are not alone because we are supported by the prayer of all those who, from Venezuela and from all over the world, are asking for Peace.”
The message continues:
“Today fear wants to paralyze us, but the response is not hatred, rather unity. Chiara taught us that wheneverything collapses, the only thing that remains is Love. If we become “one”, if we look after one another and place God as our rock, fear loses its power.
Let’s not be afraid. Let’s make this moment an opportunity to:
have full trust that God is our Father and does not abandon us, even when the outlook is difficult;
become “one”: may the suffering of others be our own. Let’s help one another, let’s share the little or the much that we have and break down the walls of indifference;
be builders of peace: let our weapon be solidarity.
If we remain united, Jesus is among us and wherever He is, light ultimately overcomes darkness.
