Margaret Karram: “Città Nuova”, an important instrument of change

Jan 14, 2026

The President of the Focolare Movement sends a message for the 70th anniversary of the Città Nuova magazine, “a voice that over the years has attracted, inspired and transformed the lives of thousands of people”.

2026 will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Città Nuova magazine. It was the 14th of July 1956 when, in Fiera di Primiero in northern Italy, during a summer meeting of the Focolare Movement called Mariapolis, the foundress and first president of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich, had the idea of creating a “newsletter” so that all the participants could keep in contact.

Since then, thousands of publications have followed, and Città Nuova has always been committed to looking at the facts, reading and exploring current events from the perspective of universal fraternity. It is committed to dialogue on uncomfortable issues, to be close to the most fragile and the forgotten, to build bridges, to be present in the wounds of humanity, to highlight seeds of peace and hope, with a global horizon that looks towards a united world.

As the Movement spread throughout the world, editions were launched in different countries. Today there are 32 editions in 21 languages, both in print and online.

Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, addressed a video message on the 7th of January 2026 in which she stated that “today, faced with the terrible threats of our time – wars, polarisation of all kinds, environmental crises, an economy often based on exploitation, ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence – Città Nuova still and always chooses dialogue:

it chooses peace as a difficult but essential pursuit,
it chooses to believe that every encounter, every thought, every word can contribute to changing the direction of the world.”

Here is the complete video message. Activate the subtitles and choose the language you desire.