Focolare Movement

World Humanitarian Day (WHD)

Aug 17, 2018

The celebration of the World Humanitarian Day, chosen by the UN Assembly in 2009 on the anniversary of the air raid of 19 August 2003, at the seat of the United Nations in Baghdad, is an occasion to pay tribute to the humanitarian operators who daily risk their lives worldwide to deliver their services in […]

The celebration of the World Humanitarian Day, chosen by the UN Assembly in 2009 on the anniversary of the air raid of 19 August 2003, at the seat of the United Nations in Baghdad, is an occasion to pay tribute to the humanitarian operators who daily risk their lives worldwide to deliver their services in difficult and dangerous conditions. According to international law, this service is based on a series of principles, such as humaneness, impartiality, neutrality and independence. The operators are guaranteed access to countries affected by humanitarian crises, conflicts or climate disasters, to furnish immediate assistance, which for many, makes the difference between life and death, and through time a psycho-social support to rebuild the communities and maintain a durable and sustainable peace in the areas of conflict.

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Thought of the day

A precious legacy: Chiara Lubich’s ‘Paradise ’49’

The first presentation of Chiara Lubich’s book ‘Paradise ’49’ took place on the 22nd of May 2026 in the Paul VI Hall at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. The book is a collection of writings in which the Foundress of the Focolare Movement bears witness to and shares her mystical experience from the years 1949 to 1951.

Related post

A precious legacy: Chiara Lubich’s ‘Paradise ’49’

A precious legacy: Chiara Lubich’s ‘Paradise ’49’

The first presentation of Chiara Lubich’s book ‘Paradise ’49’ took place on the 22nd of May 2026 in the Paul VI Hall at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. The book is a collection of writings in which the Foundress of the Focolare Movement bears witness to and shares her mystical experience from the years 1949 to 1951.

Chiara Lubich: “Do you know where we are?”

Chiara Lubich: “Do you know where we are?”

It is the 16th of July 1949. Chiara Lubich is in Tonadico, in the Dolomite Mountains in northern Italy, for a period of rest together with some of her first companions. They are joined there by the Honourable Igino Giordani, whom Chiara called Foco. On that day, Chiara and Foco sealed a Pact of unity, a prelude to the spiritual and mystical experience that Chiara would live between 1949 and 1951. This period is known as “Paradise ’49”, the writings from which have recently been published in a book (for now in Italian). In the introduction to the book, the theologian Piero Coda offers some insights “For a theological reading” of the text. Here is an extract, relating specifically to the Pact of the 16th of July, together with a short video of Chiara Lubich from 20 December 1999, in which she shares this experience of light with the Gen, the young people of the Focolare Movement.