Wehrle: Dr Lukas Vischer, the well-known Swiss theologian, who was director at the WCC Faith and Order Commission for many years, had met Chiara Lubich in 1962 in Rome. He returned to Geneva saying that he had found a Roman Catholic woman full of passion to give her life for a movement for unity. He spoke to his colleagues at the WCC and they decided to invite her to Geneva in 1967 to share with them this spirituality of unity. At this meeting, in order to facilitate, to keep, and to deepen the relationship with Chiara Lubich and the Focolari Movement, they asked whether a member of the movement could work at the WCC. Thatโs how I came to work at the WCC in 1969.
I was full of enthusiasm to be able to contribute to the mission of WCC. I was 23 years old. I thought that by living out this spirituality of unity, by sharing it, the dream to be one, the prayer by Jesus โthat all may be one,โ would be soon a reality. I wrote this to Chiara Lubich. She replied immediately: โSlowly, slowly, Luzia, you only need to love โ you have no other responsibility โ Mary was not preoccupied to be active but to give space, visibility to Jesus by loving.โ This sentence took away all the pressure and accompanied me during the years I was working at the WCC. I was not and I am still not a theologian or an ecumenist โ Chiara didnโt consider this when she asked me to go to Geneva. For her it was enough to tell me โbasta amareโ โ all you need is to love, to love Jesus in each person.
Indeed these 40 years were an immense gift and have left in my heart an indelible markโ not only from ecumenical experience gained through the many conferences throughout the world but above all the immense gift to live for the unity of the churches. It was a real privilege and somehow a continuous thanksgiving to God who, it seems to me, allowed me to experience His personal love through this very, very rich period of my life at the WCC in Geneva. What struck me deeply was to see in my colleagues the generosity to dedicate years of their lives to the ecumenical movement, among other things, by leaving their home countries together with their families, their cultural lives, their conveniences, and their careers. What an enrichment to live together with so many different cultures.
ยฉ H. Conde – CSC Audiovisivi
When was Chiara Lubichโs next visit?
Wehrle: Chiara Lubich next visited the WCC in 1982, invited by then general secretary Philip Potter, to speak to WCC staff members about her spirituality. Philip Potter coined the phrase, โYou have an ecumenical lifestyle,โ which since then has often been used to describe the Focolare commitment.
When a staff member at the plenary meeting asked Chiara how to live out this spirituality daily, she proposed โThe Word of Life,โ which is a monthly leafletโyou may know itโ containing a sentence of the Gospel with a comment, at the time by Chiara Lubich, on how to live it out. About 120 people WCC staff had asked to receive this regularly.
Sometimes people from outside asked me whether I was not influenced by the Protestant and Orthodox mentalities. I would reply affirmatively. Indeed they influenced me a lot and helped me to become a better Catholic, a more faithful member of my own church. They reinforced my own faith through their witnessing. I was also deeply touched also by how much they respected the practice of my Roman Catholic faith. The Catholic Focolari community members attend daily mass. Therefore, the WCC allowed me to start working a bit later in the morning so that I could attend mass at 8 a.m. They made similar arrangements for me whenever we travelled for conferences.
I remember a conference in Thailand. Upon arrival, one of the first questions my director would ask me was where and when I could attend mass. The time of the meeting with the steering committee was then fixed, taking into consideration my time schedule. When I returned from church, my director asked me how the worship was, and what the Scripture readings were. I had to tell him frankly that I couldnโt remember the readings. I can assure you that from that day onwards I have been much more attentively listening to the Word of God!
What were some other moving moments for you?
Wehrle: Another small happening: My director had an important appointment with the general secretary. A few minutes before, this director came to my office and asked me to ask the cleaning lady to come to his office because he had just met her while she was crying. As he didnโt speak French, he asked me to accompany her to his office. He wanted to see if he could help. I reminded him of his appointment but he asked me to call the general secretaryโs assistant to postpone his appointment. I replied that I thought that this would be difficult, and that he could see the cleaning lady after his meeting with the general secretary. However, he insisted and he had a one-hour talk with the cleaning lady and he helped her solve her problem. Very often, this experience helped me in various situations in my own life.
Surely the many WCC assemblies were a unique experience, especially during the prayers. The joy of celebrating the presence of God who unites us all was and remains a tangible unforgettable event which strengthens my own faith.
Even though sometimes during a conference there were different opinions which may sometimes have provoked tensions, praying together helped keep the presence of Jesus among us, and healed these wounds so that solutions could be found. Maybe one of the sad moments was when one of our colleagues passed away in a very tragic manner but, again, to be able to experience the ecumenical family helped and allowed us to heal the wound in many of us.
When was Chiara Lubichโs third visit?
Wehrle: I was deeply impressed by the preparation for Chiara Lubichโs third visit to the Ecumenical Centre in 2002. The visit was very carefully and efficiently prepared. For one year, senior WCC staff members organized monthly meetings with members of the local Protestant Church and with members of the Focolari Movement in Switzerland. Also to prepare for this event, acting as an interpreter, I accompanied Dr Raiser, then the general secretary, for a visit to Chiara Lubich, who was on holiday in the Valais (part of Switzerland) to discuss the programme. I was deeply impressed by Chiaraโs attentiveness towards Konrad Raiser, by her interest in the WCC, and the esteem she attached to the work of this organization. She also spoke about Jesus the Crucified and Forsaken as the key to achieve unity. She then asked Konrad Raiser which of the two topics he would like her to address, โA spirituality of unityโ or โUnity and Jesus Crucified and Forsaken, foundation of a spirituality of communion.โ I remember that Konrad Raiser didnโt hesitate a minute to choose the second one.
At the end of this visit, Konrad Raiser and Chiara Lubich edited and signed a joint reflection, entitled โSpirituality of Unity,โ that emphasized the renewed hope for our common ecumenical journey.
The numerous meetings and contacts between the WCC and the Focolare Movement led to an increasing desire for more cooperation: mutual participation in conferences (in Rome, in Geneva, or elsewhere) and in different areas such as the field of spirituality, theology, economics, international relations, education, justice and peace, and youth. The WCC was also involved in a project, โTogether for Europe.โ The Focolari musical art group โGen Rossoโ was invited to perform as part of the โDecade to Overcome Violence,โ which took place in the Caribbean in 2009.
One of the highlights during these 40 years happened to me at the end of January 2008 โ a few weeks before Chiara Lubichโs passing away. Once again, acting as an interpreter, I accompanied Dr Sam Kobia, the WCC general secretary at that time, who, together with Yorgo Lemopoulos[1], and Martin Robra[2], paid a visit to Chiaraโs home in Rome. They wanted to thank her for all that she had done to promote unity, not only for the churches, but the whole of humanity built above all on Jesus Crucified. They also wanted to encourage Chiara to carry on. That visit was a unique moment of joy, of deep communion.
On her death, Samuel Kobia paid tribute to her by saying, โOur love for Chiara and immense gratitude for the gift of God she has been to the ecumenical movement will continue to motivate and inspire us in our work of the visible unity of the Church.โ
What do you continue to hope for the ecumenical movement?
Wehrle: I am very optimistic about the ecumenical movement also because during my 40 years of work at the WCC โ attending many conferences throughout the world โ I realized what Christian unity means: to build up personal relationships which do not separate us but which promote the interest in the diversity of the many Christian denominations and which enrich us reciprocally. Also, when there were tension, sometimes serious tensions โ we spoke to each other โ listened to each other, strengthening the faith into visible unity and very often opening new doors through which the light of God was tangible!
Would you like to share one more memory?
Wehrle: I remember my farewell party. When I looked at the people who were present, I felt strongly โ and I also said it aloud โ that nothing can ever separate us from Godโs loveโbecause if I try to be in His love, to live it out, our relationship can only grow and will never be forgotten. For me it was and is still that family with Godโs presence among us. โFor where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle of them.โ (Matthew 18:20) This reality of Jesus in our midst has helped me in many situations.
Original interview published on the website of the World Council of Churches:https://www.oikoumene.org Photo: Albin Hillert e Valter Muniz/CEC
[1] Deputy General Secretary of the World Council of Churches [2] Executive Director of the World Council of Churches
โThis initiative truly touches my heart.โ Margaret Karram returns to the Holy City, where she lived for 24 years, to take part in the inauguration of the โWithin Your Gatesโ Forum, organised by Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the University of Notre Dame. The forum aims to be an open space for religious leaders, academics, and civic actors across different communities, to meet and work together. The objective is ambitious and necessary: to restore Jerusalemโs universal mission as a city of reconciliation and peace for all humanity.
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To watch the full recording of the inauguration of the โWithin Your Gatesโ Forum, organised by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and developed in collaboration with the University of Notre Dameโs academic centre in Jerusalem, click here
In 1949, Tonadico, a small village in the Dolomites in northern Italy, became a place of immense importance for the Focolare Movement. The mystical experience lived in those mountains by the founder of the Movement, Chiara Lubich, together with her first companions and the well-known Italian parliamentarian and journalist Igino Giordani, continues to shape the spirituality of the Movement throughout the world. Now, 77 years later, the Municipality of Primiero (Italy) and the Focolare Movement have for the first time, conferred the international prize “Tonadico – Cittร del Patto”. The award was given to Gerhard Pross of the YMCA in Esslingen, Germany. An Evangelical Lutheran, Gerhard is co-founder and former moderator of the ecumenical movement “Insieme per l’Europa”.
A Pact That Remains Relevant
On 16th July 1949, Chiara Lubich and Igino Giordani made a โpact of unityโ during a Eucharistic celebration in the church, of Tonadico giving rise to a mystical experience which became known as Paradise โ49. Soon after, Chiara Lubich’s companions joined this pact as well. During the award ceremony the Mayor of Primiero, Daniele Depaoli, emphasized that this “historic moment” remains much more than a simple memory. Depaoli said, in words also reported by Vatican News, that thanks to a spirituality that “penetrates the secular world, civil and political life”, this pact remains relevant today.
During the ceremony, the sociologist Bruno Turra explained the decision to award the newly established prize to Gerhard Pross from Germany. Turra said that Gerhard is a “relationship engineer”, a “master weaver of communities”.
An Ecumenism of Hearts
In his speech, Pross retraced the beginnings of the ecumenical movement “Together for Europe”, describing a meeting at the ecumenical centre of the Focolare Movement in Ottmaring (Germany), immediately after the signing of the joint declaration on the doctrine of justification by the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in Augsburg. There, about 50 leaders from different Christian churches and movements, including Chiara Lubich, prayed together and asked one another for forgiveness for past suffering. Pross recalled, โAfterwards, it was as if the heavens had opened and a sea of grace poured over usโ. He had never experienced such a profound moment. There a “true ecumenism of the heart” was born.
There are no boundaries between Heaven and Earth
For him, it was a moment just as mystical as the pact between Chiara Lubich and Igino Giordani: “Here in Tonadico, heaven and earth came together, because Chiara Lubich’s mystical experience abolished the boundaries between heaven and earth”.
My name is Sarra Marta Lupฤศteanu, I am nineteen years old and I was born in Trent (Italy).Every time I say this sentence I realize how much my story weaves together places, cultures and beliefs that often do not meet easily.I am an Italian-Romanian girl and above all I am Orthodox, daughter of Father Ioan, priest of the Romanian church here in the city, and of Presbytera Delia Rodica. Our church is located in Via San Marco, in the heart of the historic center: a small Romanian world nestled between the Castle of Buonconsiglio, streets and houses that tell of centuries of Trentine Catholicism.
Growing up here has meant living naturally with the awareness of being a minority. Not a closed or isolated minority, but a different presence, which often requires explanation. When my classmates asked me why at Easter we follow a different calendar or why there are so many icons in our church, I understood that my daily life and theirs did not completely coincide. Yet, I have never felt divided: Catholics and Orthodox believe in the same God, only with different traditions, rites and sensitivities. This is the source of a reflection that stays in my heart: we need dialogue between communities but also good will, because understanding does not come by itself, we must want it.
I study Philosophy at the University of Trento and this choice has increased my ability to observe and understand what I experience. Entering a university environment, where identities mix and sometimes clash, made me reflect even more on what it means to belong to a denomination perceived as “other” compared to that of the majority.
Castillo del Buen ConsejoChiesa di San Marco
Sometimes I feel as if I am walking on a bridge: on one side, my Orthodox community, with its roots, its songs and traditions that I have absorbed since childhood; on the other, the Trentino society in which I was born, studied and grew up and which, for the last two years, has become my official homeland after obtaining Italian citizenship. I speak Romanian, I know the traditions of my country of origin and my family has taught me to preserve them, but I am also a girl deeply connected to Trent, to its rhythms and its customs. When I enter our church in Via San Marco I feel enveloped by a familiarity that no other place gives me: the golden icons, the voices of the choir during the Liturgy, the community that greets my father calling him “Pฤrinte“. Yet, this difference never made me feel like a stranger. On the contrary, it taught me to look at the world from multiple points of view. In a city with a strong Catholic tradition, the presence of other Christian denominations shows that faith can be plural without losing its truth.
Today, as a young girl building her own future, I know that my identity comes from the meeting of two dimensions, it is a lens through which I read myself and the world. It is the awareness that roots do not prevent you from growing elsewhere. I am a “bridge” and now I am no longer afraid of being suspended: it is right there, between two shores, that I have learned to dwell. And in this space I have discovered my most authentic freedom: to be able to carry both worlds with me without having to choose, allowing them to dialogue, complete one another and make me whole: rooted and still journeying, with my heart open to the future.
by Sarra Marta Lupฤศteanu Article published in the magazine of the Parishes of Saints Peter and Paul and St. Martin in Trent December 2025 Foto: Chiesa romena di Trento – e Magda Ehlers by Pexels
On 22 April, around thirty leaders from global Christian Churches and organisations visited the International Centre of the Focolare Movement in Rocca di Papa. The visit formed part of the programme of the annual meeting of the International Committee of the Global Christian Forum (GCF), which had taken place in Rome in these days, and provided a meaningful opportunity for mutual understanding and ecumenical dialogue.
The encounter offered an opportunity to explore more deeply the history, charism and commitment of the Focolare Movement to Christian unity. Following an introductory presentation, an intense and engaged dialogue unfolded, characterised by numerous questions and reflections. At the conclusion of the meeting, Margaret Karram, Presidente of the Focolare Movement, offered a brief greeting and shared personal testimony, which deeply resonated with those present.
Members of the Committee expressed their gratitude for the warm welcome and for the light that emerged from the encounter. Commissioner Jane Paone of the International Salvation Army commented: โFor me it was a very โvibrationalโ experience: I was touched by the joy and the hospitality.โ Dr Hanns Lessing, representative of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, shared: โI was touched by how the Gospel commandment,โโLove your neighbour as yourselfโ, can today be understood as an invitation to love the other ecclesial community as oneโs own.โ Prof. Dirk Lange of the Lutheran World Federation highlighted the deep connection between the stories shared and the identity of the Global Christian Forum: โThe faith stories of Chiara Lubich and Margaret Karram brought us to the very heart of the GCF: building relationships through self-giving, in the trust that God always provides. Godโs love is at the centre, and mutual love unites.โ
Participants at the annual meeting of the International Committee of the Global Christian Forum
Founded in 1998 at the initiative of the World Council of Churches, during the term of the then General Secretary Dr Konrad Raiser, the Global Christian Forum is a unique ecumenical space that brings together all the major currents of world Christianity, including Pentecostal and Free Churches. Its distinctive charism lies in the sharing of personal faith stories as a privileged path for building relationships, overcoming historical divisions and promoting unity in diversity. As Dr David Wells of the Pentecostal World Fellowship emphasised in recent days: โThe GCF fosters a dialogue that does not begin with doctrinal or political positions, but with people.โ
The International Committee, composed of around thirty church leaders โ including the Focolare Movement from 2026 onwards โ reflected on future challenges in a world marked by growing polarisation, a reality that also affects the Churches themselves. A central question emerged: how can we be reconcilers today?
It became clear to all that the GCF occupies a unique place within the ecumenical landscape. As David Wells added, using a powerful metaphor: โThe GCF is like a fertiliser: it works beneath the surface. It is not always immediately visible, but in time its fruits emerge, oriented towards visible unity.โ
A strong sense of harmony thus emerged between the goal and the dialogical approach of the Global Christian Forum and the charism and the dialogue of life of the Focolare Movement, opening hopeful perspectives for future collaboration on the journey towards the unity of the Church and of the whole human family.
From 16 to 18 April 2026, the Steering Committee of the โTogether for Europeโ (TfE) met for its annual retreat, this time at the Schoenstatt Centre in Vienna, Austria, on the Kahlenberg. Twenty-six participants, representing eight of the Christian movements that make up the network, reviewed the past year and set out objectives for future projects.
A key aspect of this yearโs meeting was the change in membership of the Steering Committee. This transition has been prepared over the last two years in an atmosphere of listening to the Spirit, with a view to ensuring both continuity and fresh impetus.
Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, expressed her heartfelt thanks in a letter to the outgoing members for their tremendous commitment over the past decades in shaping TfE. The following members bid farewell to the group: Gerhard Pross (YMCA Esslingen), co-founder of TfE and its long-standing moderator, together with Thomas Rรถmer and Walter Kriechbaum (both from the YMCA Munich, who have been involved with TfE since its inception).
Diego Goller (IT) and Ilona Toth (HU), representatives of the President of the Focolare Movement on the Steering Committee, welcomed their successors: Liz Taite (GB), who has extensive experience in ecumenism, and Alberto Lo Presti (IT). The role of General Secretary will be taken on by Maria Wienken (DE), supported by Elisabeth Danner (A), both members of the Focolare Movement. The handover was solemnly celebrated during an evening prayer and sealed by the โPact of Mutual Loveโ. Gerhard Pross highlighted the greatness of TfEโs mission and its rich fruits, which have marked important milestones in the history of the Church, as described in the book โSternstunden der Einheitโ (Highlights of Unity).
The role of TfE moderator will now be filled by a group comprising three members of the current Committee: Sister Nicole Grochowina (Christusbruderschaft Selbitz Community), Fr Raffael Rieger (Schรถnstatt Movement) and Matthias Bรผhlmann (Vineyard). โThis change marks not only the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new phase of collaboration at European level,โ commented one of the participants.
Another member added: โThe days spent on the Kahlenberg have shown that our diversity is our strength. With this new team, we are sending a clear signal of continuity and new horizons.โ Another participant emphasised: โTfE is writing a story of hope in these seemingly hopeless times. That is why it is more important than ever to walk together today.โ
Agenda and outlook
Another key focus of the discussions was the work of the National Committees, which are taking on an increasing responsibility for establishing TfE in their respective countries.
The following key upcoming events were also discussed:
9-13 May 2026: To mark Europe Day, 120 young Europeans will visit the European Parliament. Inspired by the Christian unity they have experienced at TfE, the young people have drawn up an โIntergenerational Pactโ which they will present to MEPs.
29-31 October 2026: The next โFriends’ Gatheringโ will take place at the Vineyard Centre in Wรผrzburg, Germany.
4-6 May 2028 (date to be confirmed): Major event in Castel Gandolfo and Rome, Italy.
The 2026 meeting of the Steering Committee thus marked an important milestone for the future direction of the network, which remains committed to unity and fraternity across the continent.
