{"id":305990,"date":"2018-03-21T01:10:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T00:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/andrea-riccardi-humanitys-common-destiny\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:36:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:36:41","slug":"andrea-riccardi-humanitys-common-destiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/andrea-riccardi-humanitys-common-destiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrea Riccardi: \u201cHumanity\u2019s common destiny\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Andrea<\/a>We meet Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, at Castel Gandolfo, not far from the Mariapolis Center there<\/strong>. It feels like a holiday, since hundreds of people (in the end they will count close to 2,000) are flowing toward an event on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Chiara Lubich<\/a>\u2019s passing<\/strong>. Outside the door of the small hall where we meet, there are many festive voices. \u201cTen years later, as we return to Chiara Lubich, it is not a return to the past, like archeology,\u201d says Riccardi. \u201cIt\u2019s not even a sentimental memory, as people can have for someone who was important in the Church. \u201cBut,\u201d he confides, \u201cIt is certainly something important in my life.\u201d<\/strong> He mentions the pivotal years in Europe, when democracy was returning after a century-long interruption, when the walls and iron curtains were being dismantled. \u201cI think that Chiara\u2019s message is even more relevant today than it was during the Cold War or in 1989.<\/strong> Today, in this global world, her message speaks of the common destiny of all of us, of the unity of peoples and the human family. Yet it is not a sociologist\u2019s typical message, but a profound one, given that Chiara was a woman who was able to summarize as well as go into depth, to analyze and communicate simply. \u201cToday we need a message of unity, because this global world is not united spiritually. Patriarch Athenagoras, a great friend of Chiara, said, \u2018The world is unifying, but there is no spiritual unity.\u2019 \u201cAnd Chiara tells us that this world can be united, rich with poor, those nearby with those far away, those native to a place with those who have just arrived. Chiara also tells us,\u201d Riccardi adds, \u201cthat we, mere men and women, the young and the elderly, that you too, can change the world.<\/strong> \"AndreaRiccardi_ChiaraLubich\"<\/a>\u201cChiara was a friend to great people and appreciated by great people<\/strong>. I think of her friendship with John Paul II, who called her his \u2018peer, his equal in age.\u2019 But Chiara also showed that the world can change through the least of us who has faith. Like Mary with the Magnificat. \u201cShe helped me to understand the value of a charism<\/strong>, because Chiara recognized in me, in the Community of Sant’Egidio, a charism. She had a deep sense of people and experiences of Church.\u201d Riccardi concludes: \u201cFor me Chiara is also a very dear memory of a profound friendship. She was a friend, a friend in the small things, in the attention she gave when she invited you to her table, in the phone calls, in taking care of you. \u201cShe was also someone who saw accurately in important moments for the Church. I think of, for example, of when John Paul II met with ecclesial movements. Chiara said, \u2018This was a flash of inspiration from the Pope, a point of arrival that must also become a new point of departure.\u2019 \u201cToday my affection is accompanied with prayerful thoughts with Chiara, for Chiara.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview with the founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio regarding Chiara Lubich who was \u201ca friend of the great and small\u201c. Chiara helped me understand the value of a charism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}