The ecumenical conference Called to hope – Key players of dialogue, will take place from the 26th to the 29th of March 2025 at the Mariapolis Centre of Castel Gandolfo (Italy). It is promoted by “Centro Uno”, the Focolare Movement’s international secretariat for Christian unity. There will be more than 250 faithful of 20 Christian Churches participating in person, coming from over 40 countries of 4 continents, including the Philippines, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ireland, Venezuela, United States. There will be 15 translations, and the conference will also be broadcast via streaming.
Thursday, the 27th of March, the group will go to Rome to visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (at 4:00pm). An ecumenical prayer of reconciliation and for peace open to all is planned.
The conference programme will also focus on the three anniversaries that occur this year: in the context of the Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope” of the Catholic Church, we will commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the coincidence of the date of the celebration of Easter for all Churches, and the 60th anniversary of the abolition of mutual excommunications between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople.
Among the ecumenical personalities present who will speak: Msgr. Andrea Palmieri, Undersecretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Msgr. Derio Olivero, President of the Episcopal Commission for ecumenism and dialogue of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Prof. Dr. Martin Illert, representative of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Archbishop Khajag Barsamian representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Holy See, Dr. Natasha Klukach, Director of Research and Operations of the Global Christian Forum, Dr. William Wilson, President of the Pentecostal World Fellowship (via video message), Dr. Elisabeth Newman of the Baptist World Alliance, Dr. Margaret Karram and Dr. Jesús Morán, President and Co-president of the Focolare Movement.
Why is it urgent to work for ecumenism?
In this time of divisions and great challenges – wars, the increase in refugees around the world, unequal distribution of wealth, almost irreversible damage to the earth’s ecosystem – as Christians, we are called together to bear witness to the hope of the Gospel and to be protagonists of dialogue and unity, committing ourselves to live together for peace, to build fraternity, to spread hope. Christian unity is instrumental in bringing peace wherever it is lacking.
Bahía Blanca is a coastal city located at the gateway to Argentine Patagonia begins. With its 370,000 inhabitants, it is the economic, religious and cultural centre of a vast region. Just a few kilometres away, another 80,000 people live in the city of Punta Alta. Together, they have a very important petrochemical hub, a network of 7 different ports (including multipurpose, grain, fruit, fishing, gas, oil and fertilizers) and the main base of the Argentine Navy.
In this region, the average rainfall in a year is 650 mm, but on Friday, 7th March, 2025, 400 mm fell in just 7 hours. As this huge amount of water made its way to the sea, it gathered speed and destroyed everything in its path: bridges, canals, railways, roads, roads, vehicles, houses, shops… and people.
The population suddenly found itself in scene of unimaginable devastation, as if there had been a tsunami. A sudden power outage also cut off telephone communications, leaving everyone in the dark about the well-being of their relatives, friends, and colleagues.
However, something deep within this community awoke and all the universal laws converged into a single verb: to serve.
As soon as the water and mud allowed, thousands of people began to pour into the streets. Everyone assessed the damage in their own home, but then immediately turned their attention to their neighbours, to see if they needed help. Those who managed to get their situation under control devoted themselves entirely to helping others. We were all witnesses and protagonists of a gigantic miracle that has multiplied, with incredible creativity and strength.
Recovering photographs of an elderly womanYoung people preparing meals for distribution in the flooded areas.Distributing donations
The only thing that mattered was what could be done with our hands: help remove water and mud from homes, clean, tidy up, look for rags, buckets of water, disinfectant, take the injured to health centres, take care of pets, accommodate people who had lost everything, offer strength, encourage, hug, share suffering. No one complained but said, “It was very difficult for me, but in comparison to what happened to others…”
While I was helping some friends, a couple approached and distributed pasties, others came with drinks. Those who had an electricity generator offered to recharge mobile phone batteries. Others provided pumps to drain flooded areas. An optician donated glasses to those who had lost theirs. A woman distributed disinfectant, a doctor made house calls, a man offered his services as a bricklayer and another as a mechanic. Everything was shared: candles, food, clothes, nappies, mattresses, drinking water, brushes and hands – countless hands.
A bar offers free hot chocolateDonations of mattresses arriveVolunteers cleaning a kindergarten
And then came the solidarity of the whole country and of people from all over the world. By truck, by train, by bus, in vans… tons of donations, which needed more volunteers for loading, unloading, sorting and delivery. Volunteers kept multiplying. And also money, donated with great generosity. Parishes, clubs, schools, companies, all the existing organizations gave everything they could. Generous financial donations also arrived. Parishes, clubs, schools, businesses—every organization gave everything they could. And then, another kind of organization emerged: groups of friends. Like makeshift “patrols,” each group took charge of a section of the city where government aid would likely take longer to arrive. Even now, they continue going door to door, recording every need and ensuring that help arrives swiftly.
All the hands of these people, whether they knew it, believed it, or even imagined it, have become “divine hands”. Because they were the most tangible way God could reach those in need. Personally, I experienced deep anxiety not knowing if my siblings or friends were safe. I wanted to reach them, but it was impossible. So I decided to help wherever I could. I called it my “square metre.” Later, I finally managed to reach my loved ones, only to discover that others, strangers, had helped them where I could not.
Days later, some parts of the city are still under. The suffering and difficulties continue. The losses have been immense. Everywhere you meet people with big dark circles under their eyes and aching muscles from working almost without rest. But with their hearts wide open and a fullness in their eyes, for having given everything for others.
With what eyes do we look at the world and our fellow travellers in the adventure of life? It is a question of vital importance, in an era like ours marked by polarisation and disagreements, loneliness and distances between the haves and the have-nots, without forgetting the increasingly pervasive presence of artificial intelligence. Yet, at the same time, the thirst for harmony and truth grows.
Chiara Lubich used to say that everything depends on which “eyes” we look at people with. If we look with the eyes of the heart, which are the eyes of Love, we will not stop at appearances, we will instead grasp the deeper reality that is hidden in every human being. And from the gaze of the heart proceeds action, the quality of the relationship, becoming close, being near to the other person. (1)
In 1961 Chiara wrote:
If you enter the Gospel … you’ll immediately find yourself on the mountain ridge. Therefore, already at the top, already in God, even though looking over the side you’ll see that the mountain is not one mountain but a mountain chain and that for you, life is to walk along the crest up to the end.
Every Word of God contains both the minimum and the maximum that he can ask of you, so when you read, “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 19:19), you have the law of fraternal love at its highest degree.
Your neighbour is another you, and you must love him or her bearing that in mind. When neighbours cry, you must cry with them, and when they laugh, laugh with them. If they lack knowledge, be ignorant with them. If they have lost a parent, make their suffering your own. …
What has value for you is God who is both their Father and yours. Don’t make excuses for love. Your neighbours are those who pass next to you, be they rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, brilliant or uneducated, holy or sinful, a fellow citizen or a foreigner, a priest or a layperson, whoever.
Try to love whoever passes next to you in the present moment of your life. You will discover within yourself a new energy and strength you did not know you had. They will add flavour to your life, and you will find answers to your thousand whys. (2)
Chiara Lubich
Watch the video
Our translation of the Italian text found in: See Vicinanza, lo stile di Dio nella vita e nel pensiero di Chiara Lubich, A cura di Povilus J. e Ciccarelli L., Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 2024, p. 5.
An exhibition dedicated to Chiara Lubich (1920-2008), witness and inspirer of the universal value of fraternity. A stop for those visiting Rome in this Jubilee year; at the centre of the exhibition is the theme of the “city”, as a privileged place for building fraternal relationships, open to the world. The multimedia exhibition has been produced by the Chiara Lubich Centre and the Historical Museum Foundation of Trentino.
On Saturday, 15th March, 2025, starting at 6:30 PM, the inaugural event of the exhibition will take place with an artistic moment inspired by the fiction film “Chiara Lubich – Love Conquers All” (directed by Giacomo Campiotti). Pianist Carmine Padula will perform the pieces he composed for the film’s soundtrack. This will be followed by theatrical readings of some of Chiara Lubich’s texts and then a dialogue on some extracts of the film, with Saverio d’Ercole, creative producer of Eliseo Entertainment.
On the afternoon of Sunday, 16th March, 2025, there will be a moment dedicated to young people, based on Chiara Lubich’s text from October 1949, “The Resurrection of Rome.” This will be followed by a piano concert offered by Paolo Vergari.
From 15th March, 2025 until 31st January, 2026, the exhibition will be open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, on Tuesday to Sunday. Bookings can be made up to 8:00 PM at the Focolare Meeting Point (Via del Carmine, 3 – Rome).
Young guides will be available upon request to accompany visitors.
