UNESCO remembers Chiara Lubich

Live streaming can be followed from 10.00 to 13.00hrs and from 15.00 to 18.00hrs.

The event “Reinventing Peace” will be held at the UNESCO headquarters just two days after the first anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks that happened in Paris. On the twentieth anniversary of the Prize for Peace Education awarded to Chiara Lubich, the Focolare Movement, in collaboration with the Directorate-General of UNESCO and the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See, will give voice to the commitment towards building peace and universal brotherhood lived with determination and creativity in many places all over the world.

As Maria Voce, President of the Focolare Movement, said at the United Nations in April 2015, this daily commitment, which involves people of different cultures and religions, “is not limited to tollerance or to just accepting diversity”, but “it goes even beyond reconciliation, and creates, so to say, a new identity, which is broader and more shared. It is dialogue in action, which involves people of different beliefs, even non-religious ones, and urges towards answering to practical needs”. While referring to the actual commitment exercised even in situations affected by serious crises, Maria Voce stated that “it is not the time for half measures. If extreme violence is present, (…) the answer to it should be as radical, but structurally different, which means that one should answer with the extremism of dialogue. This dialogue requires maximum involvement; it is risky, demanding, challenging and aims at eradicating the roots of misunderstanding, fear and resentment”.

The programme will be introduced by Marco Desalvo, President of New Humanity (the Focolare Movement NGO at the United Nations) and by a UNESCO Representative. Then, there will a word of welcome by Mons. Francesco Follo, Permanent Observer of the Holy See, followed by a talk from Jesús Morán, the Co-president of the Focolare Movement. This session will be concluded by Maria Voce, who will address the audience about “Reinventing peace”.

The second part of the morning session will be interdisciplinary and intergenerational, and it will be enriched by multimedia contents. Concrete evidence in favour of unity and peace will be shared during the five brief panel talks on: Peace is Education; Peace is an Asset; Peace is Right; Peace is Green; Peace is Art.

“Dialogue as a remedy for divisions in the world”, the theme for the afternoon session, will focus on key ideas for a new humanism that leads to the unity of the human family.

The opening address of this session will be given by Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute, Discussions on two main topics will follow Rita Moussallem, co-director of the Focolare International Centre for Interreligious Dialogue will be the moderator on the panel for the first topic: “Religions: a problem or a resource for peace?”.

The speakers will be Adnane Ben Abdelmajid Mokrani, Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Italy; Fabio Petito, International Relations at Sussex University, United Kingdom and Léonce Bekemans, economist and specialist of European Studies at “Chaire Jean Monnet”, Italy.

The second topic: “Politics and economy in international disorder” will be moderated by Pál Tóth, Sophia University Institute, Italy. Pasquale Ferrara, Ambassador of Italy to Algeria; Silvia Costa, Chairperson of the European Parliament Commission on Culture and Education; and Damien Kattar, former Lebanese Minister of Finance will be the members on the second panel.

Source: Press releases  (SIF)

Brochure: page1 –  page 2

Invitation: Unesco Event

Read Chiara Lubich’s speech in 1996