Contact Nicaragua
Focolare Guatemala
Focolare Tegucicalpa
Focolare El Salvador
Focolare Bogotá
Youth and Democracy
The difficulties that Europe’s democracy is going through was the topic suggested for a training seminar on politics held on the 13th of January for the youth of Cagliari in Sardegna, Italy. The context was indeed a difficult one. In Sardegna social tensions have been increasing. Despite the fact that disillusionment, disorientation and uncertainty about the future appears to be widespread among the youth, this event once again attracted many participants.
What does universal brotherhood have to say to Political Science and to modern democracy and all its paradoxes?
This was the main point of keynote speaker Daniela Ropelato, Professor of Political Sciences at the University Institute Sophia located in Loppiano (near Florency, Italy). She shared with the audience the main ideas of a reflection that involves politicians and scholars, citizens and government officers, who have found in the charism of unity the cornerstone for their public commitment.
The school on politics in Cagliari is not an isolated experience: it is one out of ten such schools born recently in Italy. They are part of the international network of the Schools of the Movement for Unity. “Learning communities”, as they are called in Argentina, are for those young people who do not wish to yield to current trends in politics but who have decided to practice a “politics of communion”.
The young people from Sardegna attending were the main protagonists of the event: their example is a concrete answer to the need for unity.
“An extra drive to become more active, also in our small way,” said one of the participants, “to become citizens who are aware of the contribution we all can give”. “We can do politics at home, in a waiting rooms, in a shop, in a square, by giving our opinion and witnessing with our life”.
Their School has being named after “Domenico Mangano”. He had moved to Viterbo from Sardegna. He was convinced that the light and logic of the Gospel had to lead our actions in politics. He was a justice builder and developer who was at every bodies service. He had many high administrative responsibilities in the city of Viterbo. He witnessed that a positive relationship among generations may be the key to the so needed innovation the public sphere needs.
26.09.10 Beatification of Chiara Luce Badano
Maria Voce in Spain – January 2011
chiaraluce.org vi aspetta su Internet
The aim of www.chiaraluce.org is to make Chiara Luce’s experience known as widely as possible and it will have a special emphasis on the collective spirituality. The website seeks to reach everyone. Apart from Italian, it is translated into English and Spanish and it seeks to focus on the life experience of Chiara Luce which many of us can relate to. This is why the site has simply been called Chiara Luce. It’s not meant to be a commemorative site but rather a site which speaks about a friend who is close to us. It is divided into three parts: LIFE, LOVE, LIGHT. The choice of words is not random. In fact, the site wishes to be a continuation of that evening celebration for Chiara Luce held at Pope Paul VI Audience Hall, at the Vatican, on 25 September 2010. LIFE: this first section, which focuses on the life of Chiara Luce, is what is currently active. It is subdivided into 7 sub-sections: her parents’ wish for a child, Chiara’s childhood and teenage years, her sickness and death, her beatification and the ensuing phenomenon – each section is enriched with images and videos. The second section, entitled LOVE, aims to deepen the collective spirituality and will gather the most relevant experiences from the whole world. Finally, the section on LIGHT, is expected to go online in February and will be geared towards the most social and dynamic aspect of the Internet. It will be connected to the most such social networks as Facebook, Orbit, Twitter, YouTube and grant visitors access to everything that the online network has to offer on the topic: past, present and future events surrounding Chiara Luce. Ample space will be given for comments and feedback. Welcome to www.chiaraluce.org !
“Worlds” which get the world moving
Focolare Slovenia
Info Argentina
El Cairo
Focolare Atene
Morocco
Info Tunisia
Athens
Focolare Vienna
Focolare Graz
Focolare Innsbruck
Mariapolis Center “Am Spiegeln”
Info Austria
Cittadella “Castello esteriore” – Madrid
Madrid
Barcelona
The Focolare Movement in Spain
[:it]Spagna: visita di Maria Voce
Mariapolis Centre
Mumbai: Dr Shantilal Somaiya e Chiara Lubich
Focolare in Hungary
Please note: The geolocalisation feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centres are present – is only meant to be a guide. The markers on the map do not necessarily point to a specific address and they must not be relied on for navigational purposes.
Spagna: visita di Maria Voce
Argentina, prima “Summer School” Economia di Comunione
Cardinal Rylko visits the focolarini
“I am here not on official business, but urged by a need of the heart. I am here to extend to all of you a heartfelt thanks, in the name of the Church, for what you are: a great hope of the Church of today and tomorrow.” Cardinal Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, addressed these affectionate words to the 1,200 men and women focolarini who were attending the fourth and last annual retreat for focolarini. They were there from Europe and the continents.
Cardinal Rylko underscored that “the charism which the Holy Spirit gave to Chiara is for the Church, and it is a treasure that must be guarded and protected, but especially lived,” which is precisely the best way, said the prelate, of protecting it, “living it all the way to the bottom, with passion, enthusiasm, and gratitude,” he reiterated. Recalling, then, the Apostolic Letter “Novo Millennio Ineuente,” in which John Paul II proposes the “spirituality of communion” to everyone, he added: “Whenever you speak of communion you touch the central nerve of the charism of unity.”
He therefore invited the focolarini who had gathered together for those few days to “live again in our day the gift of communion, which is your very strength.” He highlighted the particular task that is awaiting the Movement today: to freely offer this gift which was freely given, to this world that is broken and divided by hatred. Hence the importance of cultivating “a profound communion with the universal Church and, in particular, with the person of the successor of Peter, the Pope.” He recalled the words spoken by Benedict XVI, in 2006 to the Movements: “. . . I ask you to be even more collaborators in universal apostolic ministry of the Pope, opening the doors to Christ.”
Aware that “you take these words as the programme of your life with a missionary zeal that touches the ends of the earth,” Cardinal Rylko concluded by underscoring that the communion with the universal Church is a concrete fact. It means “being participants in the major challenges facing the Church at the present time,” particularly mentioning the intolerance and persecution of Christians in various countries of the world.
After lunch, which took place in a peaceful family atmosphere, the Cardinal – who was celebrating 15 years of his episcopal ordination – wanted to go to the chapel of the Movement’s Centre in Rocca di Papa to visit Chiara Lubich’s tomb. He also visited the house where she lived for over 40 years, and then went to the Chiara Lubich Centre, which houses the founder’s archival legacy. They were solemn moments imbued with vivid memories
“Marilen” Centre for Unity – Oceania
A snippet of history By 1982, every continent except ours, had its own mini-city, its own Centre for Unity. So it was in that year that we started to search for the best place for a Centre for Unity for the whole of Oceania. We narrowed the search area down to a 1.5 hour’s drive radius from Melbourne and all our friends searched high and low for a property that was: beautiful, affordable, close to Melbourne and the airport, easily reached by interstate visitors, where the local council regulations could accommodate development, where there would be space for the Australian and New Zealand (and Islander) soul to sing. In short: location, location, location … We looked east to Gippsland, south-west to Geelong, north to central Victoria and to the West (the Lion Park!). But no place quite fitted every requirement. Then in March 1986, one of the pioneers of the Focolare, Marilen Holzhauser, died. At a home Mass in the Focolare, offered for her, we asked Marilen to help us find a property. Then, as is often the case, the unexpected happened in an unplanned and almost miraculous way. The December 1986 newsletter tells the story: ‘On the Anzac weekend, we had a New Humanity seminar in Healesville, together with Margaret Linard and Giuseppe Arsì (Scinti),and there we experienced a very great unity. At our Sunday Mass and services, we prayed for a Center for Unity. After Mass, we went to say hello to Fr Gerald Loughnan, then parish priest of Healesville, an old friend whom we hadn’t seen for some time. Father had 100 acres of land in Greendale (in country Victoria), which he had thoughts of subdividing and selling. We felt that Marilen in heaven had listened to our prayers and was pointing the way. Margaret Linard vividly recalls how it all unfolded: “I said, ‘Father, do you still have that block of land? You don’t want to sell it do you?’ He said, ‘Well, I have the land but I want to retire there.’ After Mass the next day, Father Loughnan came rushing towards us with his vestments flapping in the wind. He hadn’t even bothered to take them off and he said, ‘About that land. I’ve been thinking about it. I think I will sell it. Do you still want to buy it?” Fr Loughnan decided to keep ten acres for himself and sell us the rest. So how much was asked for the property? Exactly what we had in the bank through the generosity of everyone who shared the search and the dream! An invitation was sent to all those who had been involved in the search for a property over the previous two or three years to come and see the land. Whoever was sceptical when they heard that the land had no power, no town water, no telephones and so on, were soon won over when they saw the place. The magic of Marilen was beginning to weave its design.
Press releases 2010
[:it]Scritto inedito di Igino Giordani sulla nonviolenza[:es]Escrito inédito de Igino Giordani sobre la no-violencia
[:it]Maria Voce da Bartolomeo I: incontro d’unità
In Istanbul to strengthen dialogue among believers
In one of the few breaks granted by the rain, the president of the Focolare offered the following prayer at the tombs of the patriarchs Athenagoras I and Dimitrios I: “Eternal Father, hasten our steps towards full communion between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. (. . .) “We entrust to you each one of them who knew Chiara Lubich so well, and the continuation of the ecumenical journey.” Maria Voce was accompanied by a group of focolarini from Istanbul, in the tiny cemetery of Balikli, situated within the Orthodox Shrine of Mary Source of Life. 
After the important audience with Patriarch Bartholomew I(the reason for the trip), the president’s stay in the historic city continued with other meetings, such as the one with Father Luigi Iannitto, a 91 year old Conventual Franciscan who had encountered the charism of unity in 1949 and, in the seventies, had gathered together the first group of those who began to live the spirituality of the Focolare in this land. In an atmosphere of deep friendship there was also a meeting with a group of Muslims in Istanbul who for many years have been in close collaboration with the Movement. 
Bishop Louis Pelatre, Apostolic Vicar of the Latin Church in Istanbul, welcomed Maria Voce warmly. They have known each other since the eighties, when both lived in Istanbul. They wasted no time, immediately jumping on to the big issues, beginning with the dialogues and their great importance. “They are the new frontier; we can’t close ourselves” the prelate emphasised, as he expressed great appreciation for the work that the Orthodox Patriarch is carrying forward in ecumenical dialogue and in the dialogue with Muslims. Finally, he thanked Maria Voce warmly “for having not only maintained two focolares in Istanbul, but for also having renewed them with the arrival of two young focolarini.” Regarding living in frontier situations, Bishop Pelatre reported that to those who from time to time asked him what he was doing in Turkey, given the small number of faithful there, he always answers: “It’s not fair to say there is nothing to do, but rather we should figure out how to do.” On the same street which is named after Bishop Roncalli, since the future Pope XXIII was nuncio here at the turn of the forties, there is the seat of the Apostolic Nuncio, where the meeting with Archbishop Antonio Lucibello took place. He began by extending warm Calabrian greetings, due to their common origins, and then there was the visit to Pope Roncalli’s study. 
Next they had private discussions about the relationship with Islam. “A dialogue that is more cultural rather than interreligious,” he stressed. He showed profound esteem for Bartholemew I and his untiring ecumenical efforts and for his efforts with Islam. Maria Voce then returned to visit some of the symbolic sites of the city, from the Blue Mosque to the Islamic Art Museum. At Hagia Sophia – first a basilica, then a mosque, now a museum – she admitted, “I can’t hold back the emotion, despite the crowd: this is a place that immediately links you to Heaven. I felt like asking God’s forgiveness for the disunity that’s been created between the churches.” Before returning to Rome, there was an evening together with the all the Focolare community in Istanbul. There were remembrances of old times, deep sharing and listening and lots of loud laughter. “We really feel that you are one of us,” someone told Maria Voce as they said goodbye. To which she replied: “Then consider your president Turkish!”
Focolare Maghreb
Focolare Terra Santa
2010 Pontificate Medal Award to Gen Verde
[:it]Dossier: il 2° anniversario di Chiara
Press Kit
Christmas Greetings 2010
God loved us to the point of making himself one with us.
He opened up our hearts according to the measure of his heart in order to make us capable of bringing about an outpouring of love and peace in the world.
This is my prayer and my wish for each one of you this Christmas.
Maria Voce (Emmaus)
Igino Giordani – Brief Biography
Born 1894 into a poor, profoundly Catholic family in Tivoli, Igino Giordani’s parents could not guarantee regular schooling and worked in manual labour. But the young Igino was noted for his intelligence, and a rich gentleman for whom he worked, impressed by his acumen paid for him to study at the seminary, not to become a priest but to be one of the most brilliant diplomats at that time. As he finished his studies the First World War broke out and he went to the trenches. He never fired a shot against his enemies, because Christianity forbade murder. As a result of this brave choice he was gravely wounded. Whilst he was in the military hospitals he graduated in Literature and Philosophy. He married in 1920. He and his wife Mya had 4 children, and he began working for the newly formed Italian Christian political party, founded by Luigi Sturzo. The Fascist regime destroyed freedom and rights, and even Igino was persecuted. From this period there remain some of his famous writings denouncing fascist violence. On returning to Italy from a journey to the United States he became the director of part of the Vatican Library. From there he also directed the journal ‘Fides’, which was known in Catholic environments throughout the world. It was through them that the re-birth of a post-fascism Catholic political party came about, Christian Democracy. He was elected to Parliament in the first elections after the Second World War. 1948 was the decisive year of his life: he was 54, and a man established in politics and culture. He met Chiara Lubich, a young woman aged 28, in whom he found extraordinary spiritual inspiration. He adhered fully to the Focolare Movement and at Chiara’s side he took on an important role building the Movement and deepening its social doctrine, to the point of often being designated by Chiara as co-founder. Of special note, the deep spiritual relationship with Chiara was the start of the intense mystical period known as “Paradise ‘49”. From then Chiara clearly saw through Giordani’s life confirmation that the ideal of unity was made for all, and was a gift for the whole of humanity. Igino was the first married focolarino of the Focolare Movement. Due to some courageous political decisions (pacifism and unity in spite of the ideological differences, or because of them), in Parliament, he became considered as a Christian Democrat out of step, and as a result was not re-elected. This was the time to dedicate himself more to the Focolare Movement, to contribute to the debate in the Church taking ahead themes that would be understood in the Second Vatican Council (above all concerning the mission of the laity). He became the director of the newly created ‘Citta Nuova’ (1959) magazine, and from 1961 became a director of Centro Uno, a body within the Focolare Movement working within ecumenism. In 1965 he was nominated president of the international institute Mystici Corporis in Loppiano. After the death of his wife and with the agreement of his children, he lived the last seven years of his life in a “Focolare”. He left this earth on 18th April 1980. The process towards his canonisation has begun. Introduction to the Bibliography Igino Giordani was an intellectual difficult to label: we cannot describe him as a political thinker or journalist, or studier of ancient Christian literature, or a writer about the lives of saints or history, in the hope of being able to sufficiently express his talents. He was driven by a great passion and was spurred into public life through a wide range of interests. It is said that “for him writing was life”, therefore an understanding of the figure of Giordani could (almost) easily come through analysis of his writings. There are about 100 books and more than 4,000 newspaper articles. NEW ENGLISH PUBLICATION A Soul on Fire: a profile of Igino Giordani (1894-1980) The story of Giordani’s personal journey to God Paperback: 144 pages Language: English (translation by Margaret Linard, Australia) Publisher: Centro Igino Giordani, Focolare Movement. ISBN-13: 978-0975025215 Copies available from Centro Igino Giordani, email
Tveit: nutrire sogni di pace per l’unità delle Chiese
“We are called to use our spirituality for the sake of all humanity, . . . . to nurture their own dreams of peace. . . .”. These were the final words of the Secretary General of the
World Council of Churches in Geneva, the Reverend Olav Fyske Tveit, at the conclusion of his visit that had a markedly familial character, to the Focolare’s international Centre in Rocca di Papa, Italy.
Shortly before, following a presentation of the Movement, Doctor Olav Fykse Tveit noted the “commitment of your heart,” “a very strong care for individuals,” “a strong connection . . . . between personal commitment and the very wide global commitment.
“. . . . that is, in many ways, what the ecumenical Movement is all about”. Making reference to the Ecumenical Council of Churches, he mentioned the path of brotherhood in which 349 Churches in 110 countries are engaged in discovering “how we can move in new directions together”.
The Secretary General was accompanied by a delegation of directors from various departments of the World Council of Churches, and was welcomed by the president of the Focolare, Maria Voce, the co-president Giancarlo Faletti, members of Centro Uno, the secretariat for ecumenical dialogue, and some members of the General Council. In her welcome address, Maria Voce recalled the decades-long relationship of deep friendship between the World Council of Churches and the Focolare Movement. Recalling her first visit to the headquarters in Geneva in 2009, Maria Voce reiterated the commitment to continue the legacy of Chiara Lubich, who had established the first contacts in 1967. “We stand beside the World Council of Churches – she said – in advancing the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.
The occasion for the visit was the visit of the Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit to the Vatican, where, for the first time, he was received in audience by Benedict XVI, and met Cardinal Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. He had other meetings in Rome with the Methodist community, the Waldensian Church, and the Community of Sant’ Edigio.
A social question to resolve
“At bottom of the contemporary social crisis lies a powerful need of unification.” With these prophetic words, in 1954, Igino Giordani points to the daily practice of mutual love as the master way towards the reconstruction of the social fabric.
«There is a social question to resolve, because there is the question of the charity that must be put into action. Charity is the sentiment through which another person can be seen as a brother. Indeed, in the human person you see God by way of image, almost a mystical God, raised on high by the Redemption.
They talk about people abandoning the churches. But this could also be a consequence of a charity that was not enacted, of the brotherhood that remained only in missals, of the image of God that was obscured by a practical atheism. Where love is lacking, it is the case to ask whether it was the people who abandoned the churches or the churches that abandoned the people.
I speak of churches, not the Church, which is the People of God and can never abandon itself. Though they distanced themselves from the poor, the Church can never distance itself from itself, a people of paupers, to which the rich also belong, if they become poor in spirit by turning the use of their wealth into a service of charity.
At times, where Christians have forgotten their neighbour, allowing the faith to cake in the sarcophagus of their egos, detached from good works and, in this way, asphyxiated – their weaker, younger brothers, not feeling the love, lose the sense of God who is Love and loves to incarnate charity in the works of men who, by their social service, become the auctioneers and carriers of God. “You have charity, you have the Trinity,” said the great Augustine.
The brothers didn’t love each other, the fabric became worn, and they were detached».
I. Giordani, Il Fratello, 1954
“Il Fratello”, of which this page is an excerpt, is being republished in the Opere Vive series of Citta Nuova Publishing.
Seoul
Nigeria Focolare Centre
Christopher’s smile was enough to transform people’s lives
“Christopher’s life reminds me of Chiara Luce’s life,” says Francisco from Panama, who attended the rite of Beatification of the young Italian woman. And he adds: “They were both young people, simple, with normal lives. But they searched for God in everything. Two young persons who gave God to everyone who met them and, with a smile, transformed their lives.”
Christopher Amaya was born in Costa Rica. He was only a year old when, in 1994, his family moved to Panama. His parents separated when he was still a child and, notwithstanding the pain, he becamse a reference point for the both of them. After coming to know the spirituality of the Focolare, and understanding how behind every pain there is a presence of Jesus in that moment of maximum suffering when He cries out the abandonment, Christopher realized that this painful situation in his family was “his” particular face of Jesus Forsaken.
He met the Focolare through Project Give, at his school. He soon became one of the leaders of the project that promotes a culture of giving and values of peace and solidarity. He began to insert himself among the Gen3. them he came to know about Chiara Lubich, the foundress of the Focolare Movement. He established a personal relationship with her, considering her as his mother and friend, someone he could trust for understanding the truth.
One day, during a difficult time for the family, he confided to someone: “My mother Chiara taught me to forgive and to really love my relatives”. He often spoke of his life and of his choices with the other Gen, because he felt that with them he could experience the presence of Jesus, according to His promise: “Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). During one of these conversations he shared how God was calling him to a vocation that involved a total choice of God, even though he didn’t yet know what it was.
Christopher was actively involved in his parish and in the final months he set out to unite the various youth groups. Many of his peers recall him as a bridge-builder between parish groups, so that there could be unity among.
This year he was chosen as a member of the honour guard, a privilege granted only to the finest students in the school. On national holidays they wear a tri-coloured sash and carry the Panama flag. Christopher was murdered before he had the chance to march, but his friends wanted him to be there just the same, by marching with his photo with a sash and anti-violence slogan.
Sharlin, a next-door neighbour who was at his side during those last moments, affirms: “I can bear witness to his ‘Yes’ to God and assure you that he loved Him to the last moment; because, who among us, with a wound in his chest, would have turned to his mother to say: ‘Stay calm, don’t be frightened’?”
At his funeral messages arrived from all over the world. His mother remarked: “I’m happy, because I’m finding out how good my son was and that what he sowed will continue to grow in all those who will follow the example of his life.”.