At the launch of the website of the “Co-citizens of Loppiano”, Roberto Brundisini told us that returning to Loppiano after many years reawakened feelings and dreams and inspired the idea of starting new projects.
“One day I went back to visit Loppiano, where I had previously lived for some time. I realized that I felt at home there. I was surprised that I had stayed away for so long and I thought of many others who, like me, had lost touch with this reality. I expressed my thoughts, that this is the home not only of those who live there but also of those who love it. And I know there are many.
Foto: Horacio Conde
The word spread, dormant circuits were reactivated and, as if from a long hibernation, old and new faces were awakened. Loppiano exists, it’s there, it’s still there! The dreams that had fallen asleep come alive again, with a humble determination. Because the dreams that remain in the drawer grow mould.
So, what should we do? Where can we start first?
Then it hits us, maybe we can establish an energy community. “Yes,” someone replied. Maybe we could set up an alternative agriculture. Fantastic! Contribute to the urban and environmental reorganization of the Little Town according to the criteria of Laudato Sì.
What a dream! Why don’t we organize a welcome centre where people can spend a few days relaxing and re-educating themselves regarding nature and human relationships? Fantastic – someone else continued – I would love there to be a hub, a meeting space for cultural exchanges between young people and perhaps also between artists. Sounds exciting! What if we set up a Web-radio with a universal outlook, given the variety of skills, experiences and knowledge that many of us, scattered across the globe, have acquired over the years? Another dream (…)”
During a recent visit to the International Centre of the Movement, we interviewed the President of the Association, Alessandro Agostini and one of the councillors, Nicola di Settimo.
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Interview Anna Lisa Innocenti e Carlos Mana Editing: Joaquín Masera.
In recent years, the Middle East has gone through one of the most difficult periods in its recent history.Wars, political instability and economic emergencies have affected millions of people, forcing entire families to leave their homes and putting access to the most basic necessities at risk. In this context, the projects supported through the funds raised for the Focolare Movement’s Middle East Emergency Appeal, implemented by AMUand AFN, sought to offer concrete responses to the most urgent needs, reaching a total of 3,337 people, thanks to the use of 362,754 euros allocated to humanitarian interventions.
Gaza: Supporting the Displaced
October 7, 2023 marked the beginning of a new phase of the conflict in the Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations, about 90% of the population has been forced to leave their homes and almost the entire population is now facing extreme levels of food insecurity.
In collaboration with the local network, in particular with the Caritas organization in Jordan and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, it was possible to support 1,750 displaced people. The interventions involved the purchase and distribution of basic necessities, food assistance and the welcoming of hundreds of people in two parishes. In addition to food and medicine, a safe place was provided where people could find shelter and care.
In 2024, the intensification of conflicts in southern Lebanon resulted in over one million displaced people. Many families had to leave everything and seek refuge elsewhere.
Thanks to the collaboration with the local Humanité Nouvelle association, 195 people were welcomed at the “La Sorgente” Mariapolis Centre and at the Institut de Réducation Audio-Phonétique (IRAP), in the province of Beirut. Here, displaced people received accommodation, food, medical assistance, clothing and hygiene supplies.
Particular attention was paid to children and young people: 7 classes were organized for 39 students up to the age of 15, allowing them to continue their education even during displacement. Recreational activities, moments of sharing and initiatives promoted by young volunteers helped to create spaces of hope in a situation marked by uncertainty.
Also in Lebanon, the SOSTENIAMOLibano (Let’s Support Lebanon) project was continued. It was established to help people cover the cost of medical treatment in an increasingly fragile healthcare system. The project reached 112 beneficiaries, offering help for the purchase of medicines, psychological support and assistance for hospital treatment.
Another intervention supported small local agricultural producers. Through the “From All Lebanon to All Lebanon” initiative, agricultural and artisanal products were purchased from small producers and distributed to displaced families in the Beirut metropolitan area. This project involved 80 people, contributing both to food support and to the protection of local economic activities.
After more than fourteen years of war, Syria continues to experience an extremely fragile situation. In 2024, during a phase of political transition, many families suddenly found themselves without access to money due to the temporary closure of banks.
Thanks to the local network of the Focolare Movement, it was possible to offer financial support to 305 families in Aleppo, Damascus, Homs and other cities, reaching around 1,200 people. The contribution enabled them to meet their most urgent daily expenses such as food, medicines and basic necessities.
A concrete sign of closeness
Beyond the numbers, these projects above all tell stories of solidarity and collaboration between local and international realities. The goal was not only to respond to the immediate emergency, but also to strengthen community bonds and support the resilience of the people involved.
Prepared by Emergency Coordination Team of the Focolare Movement
To make a contribution to the Middle East Emergency click here
The relentless news coming from the whole of the Middle East is causing growing dismay among the many people who sincerely want peace and security for everyone, and not only for some. Unfortunately, authoritative appeals for diplomacy to take precedence over armed conflict, and calls for prayers for peace, seem futile and naive.
However, precisely because of the severity of current events, which unfortunately combine and amplify with other war and humanitarian crises, a courageous and prophetic response is required from every single person, every citizen who cares about the common good and peace as their primary concern.
The Focolare Movement, which has communities living in many of the areas affected by conflict, is also renewing its commitment on many levels. From emergency aid for the most vulnerable populations forced to live in uncertainty and fear and deprived of all forms of sustenance, to active citizenship initiatives within its own institutions and in civil society.
The Emergency Coordination Team of the Focolare Movement is therefore renewing its appeal for solidarity to help the thousands of families who have fled their homes: many have lost their homes, while others are seeking refuge in facilities that are reopening their doors despite increasingly limited resources. In this constantly changing scenario, we want to remain close to those who are suffering, ready to support local initiatives who are offering shelter and practical help.
Every contribution will provide immediate support and allow us to imagine together a future of hope and reconstruction.
We invite everyone to join us in this commitment: Peace is also built in this way, by choosing not to look the other way.
Azione per un Mondo Unito ETS (AMU) IBAN: IT 58 S 05018 03200 000011204344 at Banca Popolare Etica Codice SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX
Azione per Famiglie Nuove ETS | Banca Etica – filiale 1 di Roma – Agenzia n. 0 | Codice IBAN: IT 92 J 05018 03200 000016978561 | BIC/SWIFT: ETICIT22XXX
Reason for payment: Middle East Emergency
Tax benefits are available for such donations in many EU countries and in other countries around the world, according to different local regulations.Italian contributors will be able to obtain deductions and allowances from income, according to the rules for non-profit organisations
Photo courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Christine Schneider-Heinz and Michael Heinz from Eggenburg, Lower Austria, received a short message from the Focolare community in Kiev: it expressed an urgent need for winter clothes for people in Ukraine. The couple have long been committed to helping refugees from different countries, organizing accommodation in their town and helping with initial needs. They immediately knew who to ask for help.
Friday, February 6 – even before morning coffee
The first messages and requests were sent out. The first went to a friend who works in the nearby shoe factory and who already had organised donations of shoe several times. By 10 am he confirmed 100 pairs of winter shoes, including transport to Eggenburg.
Friday 6 February – 11:30 am
A message was posted in their WhatsApp Status and sent to their friends in the vicinity: “bring warm clothes and shoes for people in Ukraine to the presbytery of the Catholic parish this evening, between 18:00-20:00”.
Friday, February 6 – 6:00 pm
Christine and Michael had already gone through their wardrobes and went to the presbytery with the first bags, equipped with labels in English and Ukrainian to pack and label everything.
What awaited them was incredible: an overwhelming display of solidarity and readiness to help. The Mayor had shared the appeal on the municipal app, the parish through the parish app and many people had spread the message through their Status and networks.
People arrived with single jackets, with full boxes, bags and cartons. Some brought items while others accepted them, sorted them, packed and labelled them. Young people from Kharkiv and Afghanistan, women from Kiev and Eggenburg worked side by side.
Some families returning directly from their ski holiday spontaneously brought their ski equipment and thermal clothing. A man took off his expensive down jacket, left it there and went home in his shirt sleeves. People who didn’t know each other stayed to help and everyone was happy to contribute. By 22:30 two minibuses were already loaded.
Saturday, February 7, early morning
The first two minibuses left for Vienna, where the material was delivered to the collection point. Meanwhile, the work of sorting, labelling and packing continued at the Eggenburg presbytery. At 14:00 a third minibus left for Vienna.
Donations came from all over and a variety of people participated: the current Mayor and two former Mayors, the pastoral assistant and a German teacher, an Afghan pizza chef and other shopkeepers, parents with their children and pensioners.
There was a deep sense of warmth between everyone: some people embraced while others shyly left their bags at the door and slipped away.
Someone wrote: “Something like this makes you hope that humanity can still change course. You could feel the willingness to help when we heard the news from a bombed and freezing Kiev. Then someone started to help and suddenly a little miracle happened”.
Saturday 7 February @ 5 p.m.
Over a ton of donations was sorted, packed, labelled, loaded and delivered to the collection point for Ukraine. 27 hours had passed since the appeal was received. The entrance to the presbytery was empty once more and back to normal. Was it a dream? No. But perhaps Eggenburg truly experienced a little miracle.
Forty-five participants from nine European countries met from 30th January-1 February in the ecumenical “little town” of the Focolare in Ottmaring, near Munich, to reflect on how to rediscover a passion for Europe and a form of dialogue capable of uniting. Focolarini and members of the Fraternity of community life that has its origins in the evangelical world, live together in the little town founded by Chiara Lubich in 1968.
Jesús Morán, Co-President of Focolare, began by emphasizing that the purpose of this European Conference was to reflect on Europe in the light of the charism of unity, from which the Ottmaring Focolare Cultura has also emerged. It is a group of Focolare members from several European countries who explore dialogue between cultures. “However, we are not meeting – Moran stressed – to draw up an operational programme: concrete actions already exist, such as the experience of Together for Europe, educational activities for young people and politicians in Brussels and Dialop, the dialogue with left-wing politicians. Nor is there any need to draft a manifesto of intent. Rather, we are here to nurture a passion for Europe, convinced that the charism of unity is a gift for Europe, just as Europe is a gift for the charism”. At the heart of the proposed method was mutual listening: “Offering hospitality to the Spirit and to each other”, allowing dialogue to be born from relationships.
Many reflections addressed the rift between Western and Eastern Europe. Peter Forst quoted a young woman from Eastern Europe who said, “We no longer love each other”. This seemed to sum up the tension that runs through the continent today and raises a pressing question: does Western Europe really listen to the voice of the East? Does it read its authors? Does it understand its wounds?
Anja Lupfer insisted on the method of creative listening: not looking for immediate answers but suspending prejudices in order to encounter others. “We’re not seeking dialogue as an objective”, she underlined, “we are seeking the other”. It was an invitation to a non-competitive understanding, capable of descending “into the depths of the other”, overcoming the illusion of a neutral cultural space. Even within the Focolare, differences emerge that call for shared narratives and a more sincere exchange.
Klemens Leutgöb recalled the enthusiasm of the 1990s after the fall of the Berlin Wall and warned that the fracture has reappeared. To overcome it, divisive issues, ranging from gender issues to nuclear energy, must be faced rather than avoided. Diversity becomes a resource only when we engage in it together. Forst added an episode: during a trip to Eastern Europe in 2023, many people spoke only of the past, accusing the West of having eroded values such as family and faith. He commented, “The present can divide but our pact of unity must be stronger. The evaluation of events may differ, but in her experience known as Paradise ’49, Chiara Lubich speaks of truth that embraces contradictions in unity saying, “When we are united and He is present, we are no longer two but one. What I say is not said by me alone but by me, Jesus and you in me. And when you speak it is not you alone, but you, Jesus and me in you.””
Francisco Canzani asked a recurring question: “If you love me, why don’t you know my pain?” Often there is not enough time or courage to really listen. Dialogue comes from concrete life, not from programmes. He concluded with a Jewish story: two brothers secretly carried wheat to each other at night, taking it from their own barns. They didn’t understand why the level of their stores always remained the same. One night they met, understood and embraced. On that very place, Solomon’s Temple would be built: a perfect image of fraternity.
A concrete example of this spirit is the “European Project” Focolare in Brussels, described by Luca Fiorani, Letizia Bakacsi and Maria Rosa Logozzo: a former pizzeria was transformed into a house of dialogue between parliamentarians, refugees, officials and young people, lived quietly, away from social media and in the simplicity of encounter. The initiative is also made possible by the structured dialogue provided for by the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.
The multipolar dialogue group brought strong testimonies from the wounds of the East. Palko Tóth recalled the young Russian soldiers buried in Budapest: “They are our children too.” Many in Eastern Europe are disillusioned with the West. New dialogue initiatives will emerge to heal these wounds, such as the international meeting in Transylvania on relational identities.
Franz Kronreif and Luisa Sello presented Dialop, a path of dialogue between the European Left and the Catholic world, also inspired by “Paradise ’49”. The project, encouraged by Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, works on major ethical issues with the logic of “differentiated consent and qualified dissent”.
Many testimonies enriched the meeting: a Russian couple divided by opposing narratives about the war in Ukraine; a South Tyrolean couple accustomed to living with different languages and cultures; and a Slovak priest concerned about the loss of religious sense in Western Europe.
In his concluding remarks, Morán pointed to the mystery of Jesus Forsaken as a key to European identity. He also referred to the crucifix of San Damiano, “the God who comes from Europe”. Europe has universalized the Gospel but also carries historical shadows such as colonization, wars and nihilism; it is precisely there that the charism of unity was born. He said, “It is not a matter of superiority but of safeguarding what Europe can still offer the world: above all Jesus Forsaken”.
For this we need a “daily relational mystique”, made up of dialogue, living networks and cultural and political initiatives. Everything that already exists, Together for Europe, multipolar dialogue, the Focolare Cultura, the Brussels “European Project” Focolare and Dialop, is part of a single endeavour to be safeguarded and developed. “We must move forward, keep the network alive, each with our own commitment”.
Greetings to everyone on behalf of the Focolare Movement worldwide, as we join in prayer for this digital pilgrimage. Together with all of you, we want to raise our voices to God to ask for an end to human trafficking and to affirm the dignity of every human being:
O Lord, our God,
You love every one of your people. You have given us the gifts of the earth so that we may all live in peace as your children.
Today, a cry is rising up to you from those who have been violated, those who have been exploited in degrading ways, those who are victims of human trafficking.
Help us, Lord, to stand by these sisters and brothers of ours. Multiply the forces of good to encourage their hope in the possibility of a new life.
Make the hearts of the indifferent sensitive. Grant that every citizen, even those who hold the fate of peoples in their hands, may grow in awareness of the need to fight this serious social scourge.
Lord, we ask you that we may be able to spread the global appeal that is being launched today, so that Your will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
United, let us continue to pray and act for justice. Thank you to each and every one of you for being part of this chain of hope and of love that is stretching across the world.
Margaret Karram
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