Pope Francis to the Focolare: ecclesial maturity, fidelity to the charism and commitment to peace

Dec 7, 2023 | Non categorizzato

On the morning of 7 December 2023, Pope Francis received in audience Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement, together with the members of the Focolare Council and those responsible for the different geographical areas, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of its foundation. Here is the speech that the Pope addressed to them during the audience. Dear brothers and sisters, welcome! I greet Cardinal Farrell, your president Dr. Margaret Karram, the co-president Jesús Morán, the members of the General Council, the delegates of the geographical areas, and all of you. I am grateful that you came while celebrating the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the Focolare Movement, also known as the Opera di Maria. Thank you! It coincides with the day on which the Servant of God Chiara Lubich decided to consecrate herself fully to the Lord. From an inspiration she received in an entirely ordinary context of life – while she was going shopping for her family – a radical act of self-giving to God arose, as a response to her call that she had felt, sweet and strong, in her heart. It was 7 December 1943, in Trent, at the height of the war; on the very eve of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Mary’s “yes” became Chiara’s “yes”, generating a wave of spirituality that spread throughout the world, to tell everyone that it is beautiful to live the Gospel with one simple word: unity. But unity also means harmony: harmonic unity. In these eighty years, you have made this message resound amid the young, communities, families, persons of consecrated life, priests and bishops; and also in various social environments: from the world of school to that of the economy, from the world of art and culture to that of information and the media; and in particular, in the spheres of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. You have thus been an active instrument of a great flowering of works, of initiatives, of projects and above all of “rebirths”, of conversions, of vocations, of lives given to Christ and to our brothers and sisters. For all this today we want to give thanks to God. In February 2021, speaking at your General Assembly, I emphasized three important attitudes for your progress: living your charism with dynamic fidelity, welcoming moments of crisis as opportunities to mature, embodying spirituality with consistency and realism (Address, 6 February 2021). Living spirituality. I want to remember these today to encourage you to live them and promote them along three lines: ecclesial maturity, fidelity to the charism, and commitment to peace. Ecclesial maturity. I invite you to work so that the dream of a fully synodal and missionary Church may be increasingly realized. Start out from your communities, fostering in them a style of participation and co-responsibility, also at the level of governance. Let the “focolari”, the hearths, increase within them and spread around them a climate of mutual listening and family warmth, in which we respect and care for one another, with particular attention to those who are weaker and those most in need of support. To this end, it will be helpful for you to pursue avenues of mutual participation and consultation at all levels, paying special attention to communication and sincere dialogue. With regard to the second line, fidelity to the charism, I remind you of some of your Founder’s words: “Leave to those who follow you only the Gospel. If you do this, the ideal of unity will remain […]. What remains and will always remain is the Gospel, which does not suffer the wear of time” (C. Lubich, in La Parola di Dio, Rome 2011, 112-113). Please, sow unity by bringing the Gospel, without ever losing sight of the work of incarnation that God continues to wish to accomplish in us and around us through his Spirit, so that Jesus may be good news for everyone, no one excluded, and “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21). And so, we come to the third line, commitment to peace, so important today. Indeed, after two millennia of Christianity, the longing for unity continues to assume the form, in many parts of the world, of an agonizing cry that demands a response. Chiara heard this during the tragedy of the Second World War, and decided to give all her life so that the “legacy of Jesus” might be realized. Today, unfortunately, the world is still riven by many conflicts, and continues to need artisans of fraternity and peace between men and between nations. Chiara said, “To be love and to spread it is the general purpose of the Opera di Maria” (Eve of Pentecost, Saint Peter’s Square, 30 May 1998). Being love and spreading it: this is the main purpose. And we know that only from love is the fruit of peace born. Therefore, I ask you to be witnesses and builders of the peace that Christ achieved with his cross, defeating enmity. Think that, from the end of the Second World War until now, the wars have not ended. And we are unaware of the tragedy of war. I will confide in you, when I went to Redipuglia in 2014 for the centenary of the First World War, and I saw that cemetery, I wept, I wept. So much destruction! And every 2 November I go to celebrate in a cemetery, also last time, the Commonwealth Cemetery, and I see the age of the soldiers_ 22, 24, 18, 30… all shattered lives. Because of war. And war does not end. And in war, everyone loses, everyone. Only the arms manufacturers gain. And if weapons were not made for a year, world hunger could be brought to an end. This is terrible. We must think about this tragedy. Before concluding, I would like to make one final invitation, appropriate in this time of Advent: that of vigilance. The snare of spiritual worldliness is always lurking. Therefore, you too need to know how to react decisively, consistently and realistically. Let us remember that inconsistency between what we say we are and what we truly are is the worst anti-witness. Inconsistency. Please, take care. And the remedy is always to return to the Gospel, the root of our faith and our history: the Gospel of humility, of selfless service, of simplicity. And I always like to remember that you are very close to the secret of God, the four secrets of God. God does not understand four things: he does not know how many congregations of religious sisters there are; what Jesuits think; how much money Salesians have; and what the Focolarini laugh about! Dear brothers and sisters, as we have already recalled, you are the Opera di Maria; she has accompanied you throughout these eighty years and you know well that she will never stop doing so. May the Virgin of Nazareth therefore be the source of your consolation and your strength, so that you may be apostles of unity in the service of the Church and of humanity. Thank you for what you are and for what you do! Continue your journey confidently. I bless you from my heart. And please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.

Pope Francis (Source: www.vatican.va – Photo: ©Vatican media)

“European Solidarity Corps and Civil Service in Europe”

Oct 23, 2023 | Non categorizzato

Conference in memory of David Sassoli. Brussels – 24^th October 2023 – European Parliament (Entrance Spinelli building, rue Wiertz 60) room ASP 3H1 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The event will be broadcast live in Rome, in the Open Space Experience Europe – David Sassoli (conference room on floor -1, Piazza Venezia, 6) From Brussels, beyond violence and wars, a concrete proposal of solidarity and peace starting from volunteering In memory of President David Sassoli, three important European associations, the European Movement, the Focolare Movement and the Roman Group of the International Association of the followers of St Catherine together with the former President of the European Parliament’s Culture Committee Silvia Costa, set up a joint initiative on 24^th October on the “European Solidarity Corps and Civil Service” at the European Parliament’s headquarters in Brussels, in video-link with the Space Europe David Sassoli in Rome. The link to access the live streaming will also be available on the Interactio platform and on the websites of the promoters. With the tragic reappearance of war events at the borders of Europe and terrorist actions also in Paris and these days in Brussels, building bridges of dialogue and solidarity in Europe and third countries by investing in the new generations is even more necessary and strategic. We are convinced that the practice of volunteering or civil service experiences must become a constitutive element of the European citizenship. Because taking care of the other, of creation and civil coexistence promotes fraternity and social cohesion but also makes the political project of the United States of Europe grow from below – say the promoters The European Solidarity Corps (ESC), the EU-funded volunteering programme for young Europeans between the ages of 18 and 30, is the active protagonist of this journey. These are projects of solidarity, cooperation, education for peace but also the reception and integration of refugees and migrants, assistance of disabled and elderly people, protection of the environment, safeguarding the artistic and cultural heritage, which constitute an important experience for personal growth and for the acquisition of a more convinced European identity. One example is The Room: Community Drama in Ireland, in response to the social exclusion of Newbridge asylum seekers in County Kildare. Or the project “Mare d’Inverno”, in Italy, with the aim of recovering a natural coastal area near the urban centers of Trani and Barletta, to name but a few. It can be held in Europe as in partner countries, including Israel and Palestine. The conference, hosted by Patrizia Toia and Brando Benifei together with the Socialists and Democrats Group, will also be attended by MEPs from the EPP, Renew, Green and Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and, for the European Commission, Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot, Director of the Department of Youth, Education and ERASMUS+ of the Directorate General for Education and Youth (EAC), together with representatives of the European Volunteer Centre, the European Youth Forum, the Director of the Universal Civil Service Office of the Youth Department and managers of the National Youth Agency of the Italian Government. The event will be opened, representing the promoters, by Pier Virgilio DASTOLI, President of the European Movement Italy, Jesús Morán co-President of the Focolare Movement and Aldo Bernabei President of the Roman Group of the International Association of the followers of St Catherine. An intervention by the Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union, Noël Treanor, is expected and the Secretary-General of COMECE, Manuel Barrios, will also be present. On behalf of the young people involved in the European Solidarity Corps, the voices of Fabiola, Alexander, Maria Stella: European citizens who live firsthand the option of peace and solidarity in their daily and professional choices. They will bring their testimonies by challenging the terrain of politics with the power of ideality. Here you find the Initiative and the Programme

Stefania Tanesini

Laudate Deum of Pope Francis

Oct 18, 2023 | Non categorizzato

Eight years after the Encyclical “Laudato Si,” the Pontiff calls again in the Apostolic Exhortation “Laudate Deum” all people of good will to respond appropriately to the climate crisis. Still, very little has changed in the facts. The world “is crumbling and perhaps approaching a breaking point.” [2]. Last week, it was reported by the European Union’s climate observatory (Copernicus) that “September was the warmest month ever” (since 1850). Rising temperatures are certainly one of the most conspicuous symptoms of ongoing climate change. Last July, the world’s most authoritative journal in the field, “Nature,” showed that the heat waves of summer 2022 caused nearly 63,000 deaths in Europe. Certainly, we should not fall into catastrophic considerations because the margins for changing course are still possible, but we must categorically reject all irrational and unscientific negations. After decisively responding to all the most common objections against the current climate crisis, the pontiff emphasizes: “I feel compelled to make these clarifications, which may seem obvious, because of certain derogatory and unreasonable views that I find even within the Catholic Church” [14]. He distances himself from blaming the poor. “How can we forget that Africa, where more than half of the world’s poorest people live, is responsible for only a small fraction of the emissions accumulated throughout history?” [9]. Bergoglio addresses a call to each of us “to accompany this path of reconciliation with the world that hosts us and to embellish it with our own contribution” [69]. Unfortunately, some effects of the climate crisis are already irreversible: Some species have “stopped being our travelling companions and have become our victims” [15]. Yet, we cannot but “recognize […] that human life is incomprehensible and unsustainable without other creatures” [67]. All of these cannot leave us indifferent. To enable change, we need to adjust both the way we “look” at others and nature and the way we exercise power to achieve a purpose. Even small individual steps are important: they may not lead to immediate, quantifiable success, but they can act as the blueprint for cultural change and “set in motion large transformational processes that work from the depths of society.” [71]. Caring for every dimension of our planet is a collective challenge that requires a collective response. In recent years there have been many global efforts but with often disappointing results: broken promises and postponed goals. But “if we have faith in the ability of humans to transcend their small interests and think big[…], we cannot stop dreaming that COP28 will lead to a decisive acceleration of the energy transition, with effective and monitored commitments.” [54]. We also cannot give up this “dream.”  It is a bet: to win all people of good will to work for a world worth living in.

Stefania Papa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwe_bd0TUjk