Giancarlo Faletti

On the 7th of July 2008 Giancarlo Faletti was elected as co-president by the general Assembly, to become responsible, amongst other things, of the branches of diocesan priests and religious members of various Congregations of the Movement.

Giancarlo was born in Cerro Tanaro (Asti-Italy) on the 14th of September 1940, in a family of Christian but not very practising farmers. His mother was a housewife. His father worked at the National Trains Company, and their family had to move to Turin because of his work. When he was still 10 years old he felt attracted to the idea of giving his life to God, but he felt very reliant on his family and the environment in which he lived.

At 16 years of age he passed through a critical phase, seeking a meaning for his life.  At 19 years of age he accidentally bought a copy of the magazine Citta Nuova (New City) at the door of his parish church.  “On that wintry Sunday I felt as if I had entered a warm environment.  Whilst I was reading those articles I felt there was something which bound a family together. I immediately wanted to know more”. This was when he got in touch with the Focolare.  The year after, an international meeting in Grottaferrata turned out to be decisive for his life.  The way for his life was clear: he wanted to give himself to God in the focolare.

After he ended his studies in economics, he started to work with a bank. When he was 25 years old he started his new life in the focolare of Turin. He lived in Genoa from 1972 to 1983, where he was co-responsible of the Movement in Liguria. Here he took particular care of the youth, amongst whom fruits of sanctity soon blossomed:  this year the cause of beatification has been opened for two of them, Alberto Michelotti and Carlo Grisolia.

He then worked for 14 years at the Centre of the Movement in Rocca di Papa, where he was also co-responsible of the community of Castelli Romani and of a part of the Lazio region. In 1997 he received his licence in theology and was ordained a priest. In that same year he moved to Rome where he was co-responsible of the Movement for the regions of Lazio, Abruzzo and Sardinia.

In 2000 Chiara Lubich, who always had a particular love for the city which is the seat of Papacy and Christianity, launched “Roma-Amor”, a great experience of new evangelization. Giancarlo Faletti was close to the founder, who followed this new initiative step by step. The objective is to help give new life to the city with the evangelic ideal of unity, at a civil and religious level, in a capillary way.  Amongst the most varied initiatives one finds the ongoing dialogue the Movement has with the Islamic community of Rome, which began when members of the Movement were invited to speak about the Christian experience and the experience of inter-religious dialogue in the Mosque of Rome.