Fraternity can become a new lymph to revitalize relationships and humanize justice. It also opens interesting perspectives on the cultural level. This is the most significant finding that emerged at the end of an intense 3-day conference with nearly 700 participants working in the field of law. Magistrates, scholars, lawyers and students from more than 35 countries and 4 continents convened in Castelgandolfo to explore the subject “Relationships in Law: is there a place for fraternity?”, an initiative of the international group “Communion and Law” of the Focolare Movement.

The difference fraternity can make in all sectors in the field of law appears clearly, primarily from many experiences that have taken place on different fronts in the most varied countries: in Perú, serious conflicts were solved between farmers and mining companies that wanted to exploit lands where they had lived since time immemorial; in Europe, magistrates and lawyers were at the front line, safeguarding the values of fraternity in family law; in South America, in the field of juvenile law; in USA and Austria, new paths were open in the area of social rehabilitation, and work was done also to transform international law into peoples’ law and not only State’s law. In this way, practical experience triggers off cultural research.

The Conference opened with a message from Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement. Do her words shed light on the task awaiting those involved in the world of law, pointing precisely to fraternity? Prof. Fausto Goria, Lecturer in Roman Law at the University of Turin, gives his answer in an interview with Vatican Radio:

Chiara has certainly said something very important: that in God’s plan – as she, being a charismatic, sees it – relationships among people are meant to be a mutual gift, and it is in this relationship of reciprocal self-giving that each one fulfils himself or herself as a person. This holds true also for groups and nations. I believe that translating this principle into actual practice, and then into a juridical norm, will require a certain number of years, but it can provide an interesting and useful perspective for development.