Plans made for a Center for Spirituality and Studies in Jerusalem in the place where, according to tradition, Jesus pronounced his “priestly prayer for unity”

 During the Focolare Movement’s 60th anniversary, plans for the building of a Center for Spirituality and Studies in Jerusalem are moving ahead. It aims to be a sign of unity, as it will rise beside the stone stairway where – according to tradition – Jesus invoked the Father for unity on the First Holy Thursday of history. For this anniversary celebration, the members of the Movement all over the world contributed to a fund for the realization of said project. The contract was signed in November with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who thereby conceded to the Focolare Movement the permanent use of a piece of land adjacent to this “stairway”.

It marks the fulfilment of a dream of almost 50 years ago, when in 1956 Chiara Lubich visited the Holy Land for the first time. In that very page of the Gospel of Jesus’ prayer for unity, read in a bomb shelter during World War II, Chiara and her first companions discovered their reason for being.

The Focolare Movement has been present in the Holy Land for 25 years, with focolare centers in Jerusalem and Haifa, committed to promoting peace.