16 Nov 2022 | Non categorizzato
One of the first married focolarini and co-founder of the New Families Movement, Danilo Zanzucchi died serenely on 16 November 2022 at the age of 102 in his home in Grottaferrata (Rome), surrounded by his wife Anna Maria, their five children (Chiaretta, Michele, Mariannita Giovanni and Francesco) and some of their 12 grandchildren. Danilo was the eldest son of a respected family from Parma (Italy). On his trips to Milan to work on the first constructions he designed, he met the charism of unity through Ginetta Calliari, one of Chiara Lubich’s first companions. He was already a fervent Catholic, involved in politics and the diocesan president of the Italian Catholic University Federation and subsequently of the Men of Catholic Action. 
The impact with the charism led him to make an even greater commitment to God and to wish to base his life on living the Gospel. Anna Maria, his fiancée shared this choice. Around them the first community of Parma was born. They were greatly attracted by the innovative vocation of married focolarini pioneered by Igino Giordani. They decided to leave the promising career of an engineer and the privileges of a comfortable life to move with their then four children, as a family-focolare to Rome and devote themselves full time to the Focolare Movement. One of Danilo’s first assignments was the completion of the building in Rocca di Papa destined to become the Mariapolis Centre and, later, the international headquarters of the Movement. He then went to work for Città Nuova publishing house. 
He worked closely with Chiara and played a major part in the formation of generations of married couples from different continents who, like him, wanted to follow in the footsteps of Giordani. In 1980, Anna Maria and he were invited as auditors to the Synod on the Family and in 1981 Chiara Lubich asked them to be part of the Central Council of the Movement, with the role of coordinators of New Families worldwide. In the 1980s, they also received a Papal appointment as consultors and, subsequently, as members of the Vatican Dicastery for the Family. Because of these responsibilities Danilo and Anna Maria met Pope Wojtyla several times. They also appeared on TV in Italy and in worldwide broadcasts to share their experience and their work at the service of the family. In the time of Benedict XVI, their collaboration with the Holy See increased to the point that he asked them to write the text for the Way of the Cross (2012) which took place at the Colosseum and over which he presided. 
Danilo received many talents which he rendered abundantly fruitful. His long life is a hymn of glory to God stretched out in time. The entire Focolare Movement, in particular the host of married focolarini and the myriad of families from all over the world, for which he was an example, a confidant, a lovable and secure point of reference, are deeply grateful to him with a gratitude that pays homage to his humanity. He was a giant of righteousness, tenderness, simplicity and wisdom. Thank you Danilo for continuing to be that evangelical child which shone through your very being, your words, your exquisite humour, your paintings, the countless cartoons that you improvised (often on paper napkins) and which gave joy to all of us.
Anna and Alberto Friso
https://youtu.be/dKwiuQ7cAeI
16 Nov 2022 | Non categorizzato
A look at the world with the aim of spreading “good news”. This is what animates the Teens International editorial offices scattered in various parts of the world and supported by the Città Nuova publishing group. A space created by teenagers for teenagers, where they can exchange opinions and ideas; they can be trained in the production of contents for various media and can find together communication models that are guided by true values. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Gj7BG4Nu4&list=PL9YsVtizqrYsxCVExqFc_vvuzCKyNbr43
14 Nov 2022 | Non categorizzato
The Gospel text chosen for the month of November 2022 encourages us to practice mercy towards our brothers and sisters. In this passage from 15 October 1981, given during a worldwide telephone conference call, Chiara Lubich invited all listeners to revive this merciful love characteristic of the early days of the Focolare Movement. It is an appeal that today too can help us to grow in our personal journey of union with God and with the community. What I want to focus on today is unity. Unity must triumph: unity with God, unity among all people. The way to achieve this is to love everyone with that merciful love which characterized the Focolare at its beginnings, when we decided that each morning and all through the day we would look upon every person we met at home, at school, at work, everywhere as a new person, brand new, deliberately not remembering any of his or her shortcomings or defects, but covering everything over with love. … to reach out to everyone we meet with complete “amnesty,” universal pardon, in our hearts; and then to “make ourselves one” with them in everything except sin and evil. Why should we do this? To obtain the same wonderful results the Apostle Paul was seeking when he said: “For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more. I have become all things to all people” (1 Cor. 9: 19,22). If we “make ourselves one” with our neighbour, as Paul recommends, which will be easier when we have this forgiving attitude, we will be able to pass our “Ideal” on to others. And once this has been accomplished, we can have Jesus present among us, the risen Jesus who promised to remain with us forever in his Church, and who allows us to almost see and hear him when he is in our midst. This must be our principal work: to live in such a way that Jesus may live among us – Jesus, who is victorious over the world. For if we are one, as time goes on many will be one, and the world will someday be able to witness unity. So, let’s create cells of unity everywhere, each a focolare – a hearth, burning with love: in our family, on our block, with our playmates, with the people at work or at school – with everyone we can. Let’s kindle fires of love everywhere
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Conversazioni [Conversations], a cura di Michel Vandeleene, Opere di Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova, 2019, pp. 63-64)
13 Nov 2022 | Non categorizzato
The Focolare Movement adheres to the “Fossil Fuels Non-Proliferation Treaty,” signed by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, the European Parliament, the Parliament of World Religions and more than 2900 scientists, academics, associations and representatives of different religious beliefs. “We, the undersigned, call on governments around the world to adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a matter of urgency, to protect the lives and livelihoods of present and future generations through a gradual and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels in line with the scientific consensus not to exceed 1.5ºC warming.” These are the words of introduction to the letter signed by more than 2900 scientists, academics, associations and representatives of different religious beliefs, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development and the European Parliament. The Focolare Movement has also joined the effort to ask world leaders for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Oil, gas and coal are the main cause of the climate crisis. The world already has enough renewable energy potential to comfortably expand energy access for all. Yet dependence on fossil fuels continues as experts sound the alarm about how coal, oil and gas are a detriment to our public health, biodiversity, world peace and our climate. Although the Paris Agreement set a crucial global climate target, many governments have continued to approve new coal, oil and gas extraction even though burning these fossil fuels would result in emissions seven times greater than those consistent with keeping warming below 1.5°C. To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement there is a need for international cooperation to explicitly stop the expansion of fossil fuels. This is why considerable momentum is building behind the proposal for a Fossil Fuels Non-Proliferation Treaty. On Monday, Nov. 7, 2022 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, COP27, the global climate conference began with the participation of more than 140 heads of state and government. During this event, a conference entitled “The Right to a Healthy Environment: Faith and Ethical Perspectives” was held, organized by the Parliament of World Religions, in collaboration with UNEP Al-Mizan (a UN project with several Islamic organizations on the environment). The right to a healthy environment is supported by the ethical teachings of the world’s faith traditions on justice and valuing nature. Experts and religious leaders discussed this topic from the perspective of religious ethics and shared values, culture and advocacy, and call on world leaders gathered in Egypt to sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Lorenzo Russo
12 Nov 2022 | Non categorizzato
The speakers at the inauguration of the new academic year of the Sophia University Institute (SUI) pronounced words of encouragement and stimulus. They included the Grand Chancellor Cardinal Betori, Deputy Grand Chancellor Margaret Karram, Rector Declan O’Byrne and Prof. Mauro Magatti, Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. 
The official start of the year is a major event for any academic community. In the times we live in, with the complex challenges of culture and society that emerge from the pandemic and the return of war on European territory, it is a very important occasion. This year, 350 people attended the opening of the 2022/2023 Academic Year of the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Figline-Incisa, Valdarno-Italy). The title of the event, the 15th so far, was: “Paradigm shift: the university of the future”. As usual, Sophia wanted to take the opportunity to try to open up new paths, to present something of the “versatility” that is a constitutive part of her heritage. The Grand Chancellor, his eminence Card. Giuseppe Betori, who has accompanied and supported Sophia’s journey from the beginning, said that Sophia “is beginning to enter the time of maturity”. And he recommended “always drawing on the charismatic roots at the base of the Institute, roots from which life emerges”, including academic life. 
The Vice Grand Chancellor, Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, emphasized the renewal that, after the initial phase, characterizes the current moment of the Institute. She said, “We note that a new generation of teachers, who have trained academically in this Institute is taking the baton from those who started. I am referring to the Professors of the ‘first hour’ to whom all my esteem and gratitude goes. They are those who, with courage, left the prestigious positions they held in other universities to give life to Chiara Lubich’s dream: to create a university institution at the service of the Church and humanity, which would give cultural and academic consistency to the charism of unity, to contribute to the realization of ‘that all may be one’ (Jn. 17:21)”. The mission of the SUI appears of no secondary importance in this historical moment of “fragmentation of knowledge and opinions” which requires attention and dedication: “Only by listening to God’s Wisdom, only by letting ourselves be shaped by it and by working, starting with ourselves, to ensure that it is transformed into culture, we will trace the way to answer the many questions of contemporary thought and we will be able to help heal the wounds and immense pains that afflict humanity”. The student representatives, Merveille Kouatouka and Valentina Alarcón, proposed six words in their short presentation: welcome, listen, discover, contemplate, dare, desire. They are the six verbs that the students wanted to choose in their study of a subject that is not usually found in universities: “sharing” (a subject for which Sophia gives university credits, because it is an expression of the lifestyle that the Institute wants to promote). They said it is, “An invitation to open a path to create and be, a ‘place’ in which to share Wisdom and mutually nourish each other. We like to recall Benedict XVI’s invitation in Caritas in Veritate: ‘Truth is logos that creates diá-logos and therefore communication and communion'”. 
Prof. Declan O’Byrne is the recently appointed third Rector (Acting) of SUI, following Prof. Piero Coda, Rector until 2020 and Prof. Giuseppe Argiolas, Rector since 2020. In his speech, he focussed on an expression present in the 2014 Strategic Plan, which spoke of Sophia as the “university of the future“. He posed the question: “In what sense can such a statement be made?” It doesn’t mean that “Sophia pretends to be some kind of model of what other universities can be”. Rather it means “thinking of Sophia as a university which serves the future. In other words, shifting attention from the already to the not-yet”. And, again and above all, “Sophia, in continuity with the mission of the Church, must be able to direct its 
work towards the future and must know how to overcome the rigid distinctions between disciplines, but also to connect the trans-disciplinary effort to a vision informed by the destiny of all things to become one in Christ”. In his address, Prof. Mauro Magatti, Professor of General Sociology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and a friend of Sophia since the beginning, reflected on the idea of the university. He said: “Social life cannot be understood without taking into account the ability to accept a deviation from the plan, a quantum leap with respect to constraints that would seem to configure an impasse, or an unshakable determinism. In this sense, the spirit can be thought of as something which is capable of “infinite in the finite”, of “infinitizing” through projections that open lines of flight and spaces of freedom beyond the factual”. He said: “We need new knowledge and therefore a new university (…) To live in the time of complexity, it is necessary to recognize, enhance and cultivate an open, multidimensional, widespread, embodied reason, in constant dialogue and questioning with what is non-rational, a-rational, and supra-rational”. “Live in the time of complexity” is the invitation of Prof. Magatti. Sophia’s Academic Community and its vast array of friends accept the challenge.
Michele Zanzucchi Foto: Cittadela Loppiano
