A soul for ecumenism – On the 3rd February the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, met Maria Voce (President of the Focolare Movement) and Co-President Giancarlo Faletti, accompanied by Joan Patricia Back and Severin Schmid who are jointly responsible for “Centro Uno”, the Focolare Centre for Ecumenical Dialogue.
It was an opportunity to update Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, about the ecumenical life and initiatives of the Focolare. The Cardinal showed great interest, respect and recognition of how much Chiara Lubich worked in this field and how the Movement continues to this day take the work ahead. Maria Voce (Emmaus) also told the Cardinal about her meeting on 27th December 2010 at the Fanar, the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in Istanbul.
For the President of the Vatican department, Maria Voce sketched out the aims of ecumenical work by members of the Movement throughout the world at various levels especially in the ‘dialogue of life’. This is also the title of a book given to the Cardinal containing talks Chiara gave in Geneva in 2002. During the meeting they also talked about the 3rd anniversary of Chiara’s death and the 50th anniversary of the foundation of “Centro Uno” which will be celebrated on 12th March in Trent, Northern Italy, during an international ecumenical week (11th-16th March) at Cadine, Trent. Emmaus spoke to the Cardinal about the focolarini men and women who belong to churches other than the Roman Catholic Church, and of their meeting with Cardinal Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, at Castel Gandolfo (Rome). Cardinal Koch commented: “Every vocation comes from the Holy Spirit”. Then there was an explanation of the initiative ‘Together for Europe’, its history and the latest developments for the next meeting in May 2012 in Brussels , they also talked about the annual ecumenical meeting of bishops from different Churches.
Maria Voce told the Cardinal that the principal reason for the meeting was to assure him of the support and prayers of the whole Movement for his work. The Cardinal asked Maria Voce the meaning of her other name “Emmaus”, and she explained it recalling the main point of the spirituality of unity, which is centred on the presence of Jesus united in his name, ‘Jesus in the Midst’ (Mt 18:20). The Cardinal commented: “Without the mystical presence of Jesus, unity cannot be reached, people are incapable… it’s Jesus”.