Streaming: http://live.focolare.org/EdC2011/ Flickr Photo Gallery

“Speak! Speak out loud! Have courage to speak about the Economy of Communion, even to the important economists of the world. Maybe they won’t give you credit right away, but since this project is tried and true, it will affirm itself in time.” The Archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Odilo Scherer couldn’t have expressed it in better terms to give encouragement to all participants of the International Assembly of the EoC, taking place in Mariapolis Ginetta, 50 kilometers outside the Brazilian metropolis. “I wanted to come here,” he confided to the 650 participants, representing 37 countries, “to get a feel for how this meeting is going, to see you all and to say something to motivate you and to encourage the work of this initiative.” He explained right away, saying, “Yours in an event that proposes something new for society. It isn’t new for you, because you’re involved in it, but for the wide public it is new.” one of the most listened to public figures in all of Latin America, and is increasingly  recognized at a global level as well. He does not doubt the presence of a widespread question and the research underway. “Certainly, many people are interested in knowing what the expression ‘Economy of Communion’ means, what good it can bring to our times, for the economies of our countries, for our society, what it can say to help resolve the economic crisis that persists in many places.” He has no doubts about the foundation of the EoC. “I see that the EoC’s proposal is fully in line with what the Social Doctrine of the Church has been proposing for economy for some time.” He explains, “This proposal, elaborated at the beginning by the focolarini, gives a concrete experience that says that this is possible, that the issue of Social Doctrine of the Church is not utopian, not unfeasible, but can be translated into reality. That is why your experience, which is now present in many places, must be shared with society.” These are the considerations that led him to make his pre-emptory invitation: “Speak! Speak out loud!” The EoC certainly offers the possibility of a different way out of the world’s economic problems”, because “the economic system based on the binomial of socialism-capitalism will not bring about an economic solution, even more so if one considers population growth, diminishing natural resources, the development of scientific discoveries and technologies applied to production.” In fact, he commented that “If no new economic orientation emerges, one that is directed towards communion and solidarity, we – as Pope Benedict XVI warned in his encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ – we’ll be walking decisively towards a disaster because the world does not offer goods in inexhaustible amounts. Wealth, if not shared, generates conflicts.” The core of his message seemed to be that, faced with a decidedly problematic picture, “the proposal of the Economy of Communion can certainly offer light for the economies of all the nations. This begins from something small, from the economy of families, from the economy of small local groups that, brought together, can truly give beginning to a great change. And that with the passing of time – maybe not in our time – it will bring a true transformation, even in the economy of the world.” In addition, the Cardinal recognizes that the EoC “is a proposal of the globalization of solidarity, as John Paul II called for many times and that the Church currently continues to call. The globalization of solidarity indicates a journey of solutions to problems, of the poverty of our time, and which also accounts for the environmental risks of an economy that does not consider the factor of solidarity or communion.” Referring to his eminent departure for Rome for a meeting of the Vatican’s Commission for New Evangelization, instituted recently, the Cardinal announced that he foresees in the EoC “a significantly suitable instrument for the new evangelization in the economic sphere.” The words of Cardinal Scherer, aside from instilling in the participants from all over the world a greater awareness of their task, also invested them with greater responsibility. “This is why I am very happy to greet you, to give stimulation, to encourage you. Keep going with much faith, with much hope in this journey, sharing these experiences throughout the world, until it can product an ever wider effect.” By correspondent Paolo Lòriga