The city of Cannes is the winner of the 7th Chiara Lubich Brotherhood Award, because of its Vivere insieme a Cannes Project (Living together in Cannes), which involves laity and Religious from different faiths in projects and initiatives that promote peaceful coexistence. The Mayor put his signature to the candidate application on January 7, the day of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris. Cistercian Abbot, Vladimir Gaudrat, member of the French delegation at the award ceremony, remarked: “There’s a symbol of hatred and there’s a symbol of peace, and we are here because we want to demonstrate the symbol of peace.” The ceremony was held in Rome, Italy, on January 17, 2015 during a conference on dialogue, community and brotherhood, which had been organised by the promoter of the award, the Associazione Città per la Fraternità (Cities for Brotherhood Association). Campidoglio was chosen as the venue for the award ceremony because of its connection to the person after whom the award was named. On January 22, 2000, her 80th birthday, Chiara Lubich was honoured by the citizens of Rome. Already in 1949, just arrived in the capital where she later lived for ten years, she wrote an article titled “Resurrection of Rome” in which she described the city that had been torn by war and misery. In that article she manifested her desire to bring light and love to its homes, streets, centres of learning, workplaces, Parliament and everywhere. She made those wishes again on January 22, 2000, indicating some paths that could incarnate her vision: the Art of Loving, so in line with the name of the capital city. In Italian, “Rome” is written “Roma.” By reversing the word you have “Amor,” which means “Love”. The Art of Loving emerges from values found in the Gospel. These few thoughts reveal Chiara’s vision of a city, and they inspire the Association that includes 140 Italian comunes. She sees the city as a place inhabited by a community which, in weaving relations between citizens and between citizens and its institutions, can widen its internal and external borders. “Cities,” explains Pasquale Ferrara, General Secretary of the European Institute of Florence, are forever places of pluralism and diversity, where diverse associations collaborate with local institutions for the solution of problems.” Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life, also offered his testimony on the importance of brotherhood in relation to cities, by recalling his experiences in Brazil. “I learned from the Focolare Movement,” the Cardinal recalled, “I learned openness to diversity, which I then experienced in Brasilia. Until I arrived in Rome, where, for me, brotherhood means open contact with everyone.” Lina Ciampi, Secretary of Città per la Fraternità said to the microphone of Vatican Radio: “In this moment that is seeing so many open conflicts – reflecting on brotherhood and dialogue in a community that is changing, with so many feelings, dedicating an entire afternoon to this topic and how to come up with a new cohesion, seems very important to me. Cannes has presented a multi-cultural and interreligious project, in which Buddhists, Jews and Muslims interface. . . It seems to me that it reflects very well what the Association proposes we should do.” Besides the French city of Cannes, awards were also given to the comunes of San Severino and Tolentino nelle Marche for their projects which were directed towards their most vulnerable citizens; Honorary Mention was given to the Comune of Trieste for its Educating For Peace project, which led to the installation of a Cube of Peace in one of its public parks.