![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Palermo_ChiaraLubich.jpg\")
20 January 1998: Chiara Lubich is awarded the honorary citizenship of Palermo<\/p><\/div> Twenty years ago, Focolare founder<\/strong> Chiara Lubich<\/a> was awarded an honorary citizenship in Palermo by Mayor Leoluca Orlando<\/strong>. Today, as Palermo is named the \u201cItalian capital of culture<\/a>\u201d, the Movement re-solidifies that bond in the name of universal brotherhood and acceptance, in opposition to the negative actions that are recorded each day in a city of many contrasts. The programme was comprised of meetings, artistic displays and workshops about dialogue among the generations, cultures and Churches of Sicily. Maria Voce<\/a> devoted her speech to the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sicily. \u201cArriving in Palermo at this moment in which many events concentrate the attention on the city, I could hear the words of Chiara Lubich to this city, resounding in my ears: \u201clet us promise to have Palermo always in our heart and in our thoughts until, because of our courage and audacity and the courage of this city\u2019s citizens, it will come to be a model for many other cities both within and beyond Italy, a veritable city on the hill.\u201d Twenty years after Chiara Lubich became an honorary citizen of Palermo, the Italian \u201ccapital of culture 2018\u201d hosted a programme of events in the presence of Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-President Jesus Moran.<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306158","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=306158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_1169.jpg\")
<\/strong>Maria Voce went on to say: \u201cChiara Lubich left an indelible mark with her efforts in favour of communion in the Church, for ecumenical dialogue<\/a> and for brotherhood among peoples. As far back as the 1940s Chiara expressed her longing in words\u00a0 that were charged with zeal and urgency. \u201cLook around: we\u2019re all brothers [and sisters] \u2013 no one excluded!\u201d This was how she exhorted us \u201cto live out our universal brotherhood in one only Father: God who is in Heaven.\u201d This was a plan that could be carried out in every city, but a plan that found particularly fertile ground in Palermo, a place \u201cof encounter over the centuries among peoples, cultures and different civilizations,\u201d a plan rooted in \u201cthe values of diversity, acceptance and solidarity.\u201d What has this charism contributed to the Universal Church and to the individual Churches in Sicily and beyond<\/strong>? Maria Voce responded: \u201cWith the charism of unity, a \u201cnew way\u201d has been opened in the Church,\u201d a spirituality that is in perfect harmony with the Second Vatican Council. \u201cFrom this spirituality of communion<\/a> we have seen communion blossom within the Church among the different ecclesial Movements that enrich it, among the variety of ancient and modern charisms. We have seen how useful it is in contributing to the unity of Christians and opening dialogue with people of other religions<\/a>, which represents one of the most urgent and challenging frontiers of the third millennium. And these are things that are also experienced at the level of the local Church.\u201d ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/IMG_1162-1.jpg\")
\u201cDespite the many emergencies in recent years \u2013 indeed, because of them \u2013 the Movement in Sicily is deeply focused on witnessing to unity and building it among the members of the human family<\/strong> wherever that family may be threatened. This is the way they respond to Chiara\u2019s appeal when she urges all of us to \u201cbuild a new culture that would be a culture of human rights, a culture of law and order, a culture of love, a culture of life and never of death.\u201d Maria Voce went on the say: \u201cI think I can say something has already begun towards that goal. Certainly there is still a long road ahead, but it is a goal that with the entire Movement we renew today: to do our part at creating that \u2018new civilization\u2019 which contains all those values that are often trampled on . . . and to grow more and more \u2013 as Chiara says \u2013 all our Christian brothers and sisters, without leaving out the other religions, without leaving out anyone.\u201d In so doing, \u00a0we will truly be able to give life to a \u2018culture of unity\u2019 which Chiara more than once defined as the \u2018culture of the Resurrection\u2019.\u201d Read full speech<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"