Established by the United Nations in 2005, with the intention of raising awareness of those who are disadvantaged, International Solidarity Day, which is celebrated on 31 August each year, reminds the international community that humanity’s innate attitude is not about hate, discrimination or indifference towards those unable to live with dignity and in freedom, but that of unconditional collaboration and support.
Live fully in the present
Letter from Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, on the occasion of the departure of Maria Voce – Emmaus.
At this time when the world is torn apart by brutal conflicts, we share an excerpt from the famous book written by Igino Giordani in 1953 and republished in 2003: The uselessness of war. “If you want peace, prepare peace”: the political teaching that Giordani offers us in this volume can be summarized in this aphorism. Peace is the result of a plan: a plan of fraternity between peoples, of solidarity with the weakest, of mutual respect. Thus a more just world is built, this is how war is set aside as a barbaric practice belonging to the dark phase of the history of mankind.
Ten years ago, on 14th June 2015, the theologian Don Pasquale Foresi (1929-2015), whom Chiara Lubich considered a co-founder of the Movement, died. He was the first focolarino priest and the first Co-President of the Focolare. A few months ago, the second volume of Foresi’s biography, written by Michele Zanzucchi, was published. We spoke about it with Prof. Marco Luppi, researcher in Contemporary History at the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Italy).
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