10 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
On 6–7 March 2022 Focolare’s president and co-president were in Sassello, Italy, the birthplace of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano in the province of Savona. It was an intimate, personal meeting with Chiara Luce and the foundation that protects and promotes her memory. Things change after you visit Sassello. The young Chiara Luce can certainly be known through books, documentaries or her massive presence on social media. But if you are lucky enough to go to Sassello, everything changes. This is because at the cemetery, or through her mother Maria Teresa and friends, the relationship with her immediately takes on a personal quality. That is exactly what happened on 6–7 March to Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán when they went there. It was one of the first off-site trips by the Focolare president and co-president, one year after the General Assembly that elected them. This private visit came from a desire to know Chiara Luce, but not just that. “During these days I understood the extraordinary nature of Chiara Luce, the roots of her holiness,” commented the president, who was able to embrace Maria Teresa Badano, meet the Bishop of Acqui Mons. Luigi Testore and meet members of the Chiara Badano Foundation. These were important days, with an atmosphere of growing affection, dialogue and sharing. It was a time to rebuild relationships of trust, collaboration and take a look together at numerous challenges and future projects. It was a brief visit, marked by precious anecdotes from Maria Teresa, who recalled pieces of Chiara Luce’s daily life, such as her constant and total openness to welcome anyone who came to visit her – right up to the last days of her life. At the cemetery, meeting Chiara Luce face to face, “we entrusted to her, first of all, peace in Ukraine and in the many places where conflicts are not in the media spotlight,” said Jesús Morán, “and then all young people, for whom she is an extraordinary and extremely necessary model, today more than ever.”
Stefania Tanesini
1 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
Donatella Rafanelli told Maria Chiara Biagioni of the Italian news agency “SIR” about the life of the Focolare community in Ukraine in recent days. A 29-hour trip from Kiev. “Now our dream is to go back there”. A 29-hour drive out of Kyiv to reach Mukachevo, a town in the west of Ukraine. Heavy traffic on the roads, long queues at cash machines and petrol stations, tanks and people along the way asking for a lift. Donatella Rafanelli is a focolarina, from Pistoia in Italy, who has lived in a Focolare community in Kyiv since 2019. She spoke to “SIR” about that journey along the ‘route’ of internally displaced persons. Donatella told us, “We were in Kyiv when we received a phone call on Thursday morning advising us to pack quickly because there was shooting 70 kilometres from the capital. We didn’t know what to do because for all of us it was the first time that we were in that kind of situation. We went to look for the closest shelter to our house and were directed to an underground carpark. We went home and rang the Italian embassy on an emergency number. They told us to stay home and go to the shelter only if there was an alarm. Everything seemed normal. People had been talking about the possibility of an attack on Kyiv for days, but when it happened, the first thing we did was look each other in the eyes. We said, here we go, we’re at war. And we prayed. We asked Jesus to give us strength and to give us peace. From then on, it was all a race against time. We put a few things together in a small bag. We took very little, the bare essentials and personal documents. We tried to get train tickets so we could go to the west, but they were sold out. The airport was closed. So we decided to take the car. The roads out of Kyiv were blocked. There were very long queues at the bank to get money and at the supermarkets. It took a long time just to get out of the city. We stopped twice for petrol. At the first petrol station we queued for an hour. And while we were there, waiting, we heard the shots. It was an emotional moment. We stood still, in silence. When we set off again, you could see tanks and people hitchhiking for a lift. Our phones were constantly receiving and sending messages and calls: from those who had left, from who had decided to stay. We were sharing news and putting the people who were trying to leave in contact with the Focolare communities in Slovakia and Poland, who had offered a welcome. Only as we were travelling, did we realize what had happened to us. We weren’t in the car to go to an appointment or a trip. We were leaving a city, our home. We would never have wanted to leave. But we realized it was impossible to stay.” In Mukachevo, Donatella and her companions were welcomed by a Parish Priest and by the community of the Focolare there. “We are still in Ukraine; this is very important to us. We didn’t run away. We want to continue living in this country. We’ve been offered lots of places to go. The fact that we left Kyiv is just because it’s dangerous right now. There was no point in staying under the bombing. But now our dream is to go back there.” She continued, “War? It’s madness, no one has the right to take someone else’s life or rob them of the chance to live a normal life. People here have made a lot of sacrifices to buy a house, save money. And now with the war, their plans for the future are jeopardized, their dreams are shattered. We are praying that this madness will end as soon as possible. We are following the news of the talks between the delegations and of the efforts being made at the level of international diplomacy. I think the only thing that can help us is a miracle. It really helps us to hear all the news from people who pray for us and who demonstrate in the streets for peace. We need a miracle.”
Maria Chiara Biagioni
24 Feb 2022 | Non categorizzato
We hear from the Focolare communities, present in various cities of Ukraine. They invite us to join them in their worldwide prayer for peace every Thursday at 7.30 pm (Italian time). “In this terrible moment, we are sustained by the faith and love that we are receiving from all over the world through messages, telephone calls and prayers. We would like to thank each and every one. They give us strength and increase the hope that God will give us the gift, the miracle of peace”. With these words Donatella Rafanelli, an Italian focolarina and a teacher, who lives in the Kiev focolare, shared how the Focolare communities in Ukraine are living this frightening time. She continued, “In recent weeks, with the growing tension we felt we were living a truly special moment in our life, even if everyday life flowed as usual. By talking to the people around us, we realized how much fear, worry, sadness and disappointment there has been for months and which now, with the worsening of the situation in the last few hours, is even more accentuated”. She explained, “We too, as a community of the Movement, are certainly not immune from all this. We have wondered and continue to ask ourselves what to do in this situation. We are living this painful moment with everyone. We are aware that we cannot do extraordinary or special things, but we can listen to those around us sharing fears and concerns and try to understand, moment by moment, what is best to do “. Yesterday, Pope Francis invited everyone, believers and non-believers, to join in a choral plea for peace by praying and fasting, especially on 2nd March, the beginning of Lent. Together with him, other leaders of various Christian Churches are inviting people to pray to implore the gift of peace. In the Focolare Movement around the world, the time-out for peace continues every day (at 12:00 in each time zone). It is a moment of silence and prayer for peace in every corner of the globe. Donatella told us, “Here in Ukraine, every Thursday for a year now, at 7:30 pm (Italian time) we have a moment of prayer for peace, in Italian and Ukrainian, at this link We invite everyone to join us for this moment, which recently, has attracted many people from various countries of the world who have peace at heart”. The focolare in Ukraine opened in Kiev in May 2019. Some Focolare communities were already present in the country. People in Ukraine had heard of the charism of unity thanks to many members of the Movement from neighbouring nations who, through visits and various contacts, had introduced this spirituality to several cities. Today the members of the Focolare, of different ages and vocations, are present in Mukachevo, Uzhgorod, Storozhniza, Lviv, Kiev and surroundings.
Anna Lisa Innocenti
6 Feb 2022 | Senza categoria
- Date of Death: 07/02/2022
- Branch of belonging: volunteer
- Nation: Italy
11 Jan 2022 | Non categorizzato
Condolences and words of appreciation from Margaret Karram and the Focolare Movement on the death of the President of the European Parliament. “‘We need to open the European Parliament building to the homeless at night because it is painful to see so many people seeking shelter from the intense cold in the corners of our building here in Brussels. The poor cannot wait’. President Sassoli’s words in the year 2019 give me a sense of his human and civic stature and his vision for Europe. While today we are moved by this great loss, with deep gratitude we want to take up these values that we feel are ours too, and commit ourselves ever more to making them a reality”. This is how Margaret Karram, president of the Focolare Movement, expressed herself this morning on hearing of the death of the President of the European Parliament. She added: “His life, of such great human and political depth, stands before us now as a sign and authoritative testimony to a person who lived politics as service and worked towards a vision of Europe as a continent of fraternal peoples”. David Sassoli and young people In May 2021, President Sassoli spoke to the Youth for a United World of the Focolare Movement. They had invited him to speak on the subject of #daretocare, an international project, considering him as a witness to the kind of politics that is responsible for taking care of the world, starting with its wounds: “This image of ‘taking care’ is very beautiful, – he said – because politics has this goal, it cannot have any other: taking care of people, of one’s own community, of one’s own cities. I believe that this expression truly represents your determination to bet on the future”. “I was one of the young Europeans who had the privilege of talking to President Sassoli,” recalls Conleth Burns, an Irish researcher and organiser of the Dare to Care event. Two things struck us in what he said: his conviction that a politics deeply rooted in caring for people and communities is a better kind of politics and one that can transform society. And then his drive to bring politics and the institutions themselves closer to citizens, to strengthen our European democracy. President Sassoli’s vision and his testimony at the service of the common good, as a journalist and a politician, will continue to inspire us all”. Clara Verhegge, a young woman from Belgium, who spoke with the President, also says: “His commitment to the European reception of migrants – despite the fact that he felt powerless – touched my heart and that of many other young people. When we spoke with him, I realised that I was not alone. Indeed, I hope with more confidence that one day Europe will find a unified voice also when it comes to refugees’. When asked by Mátyás Németh, a young Hungarian, whether the climate issue could be an opportunity for the peoples of Europe to unite, President Sassoli said that Covid had made Europe realise that this was an opportunity to restart a common policy on which to base Europe’s post-pandemic recovery. He added: “I think that in times of difficulty we will need open societies that work together and we must be proud of the young people who remind the world of politics of the state of our planet”.
Stefania Tanesini
