Living with hope in a risky global society

Every year, the Italian Christian Laborers Associations, a union of Italian Catholic associations operating in the social sector, organizes a national convention with the objective of tackling the cultural, economic, and political challenges of the present world, and providing Catholics with answers to specific issues.

This year’s appointment was entitled: “Living with hope in a risky global society.” Held in Orvieto, Italy, from September 5-7, the convention gathered 400 representatives of the world of culture and international politics.

Stating his motives for inviting Chiara Lubich, Luigi Bobba, ACLI president remarked: “When it comes to hope it’s impossible not to think of Chiara, a woman who personifies the virtue of hope.”

In her message Chiara said among other things, “The paradigm of unity, when put into action, proves to be an enormous resource for the ongoing trend of globalization, since it contains the seed which can make all forms of integration among peoples possible and offers the method for achieving it, namely mutual love.(…)

“As a consequence the need will be felt to put the goods of creation—God’s gift to all—at the service of all peoples. The underdevelopment of some nations and the overdevelopment of others will find its proper balance. This would be the idea of ‘communon,’ of universal brotherhood in action.”