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<\/a>\u00a9 CSC Audiovisivi – Caris Mendes<\/p><\/div> In the words of Patriarch Bartholomew I<\/strong>: with the 59th<\/sup> edition of Ecumenical Week,\u00a0 promoted by the Focolare Movement<\/a> at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, (May 9-13), \u00a0“it is [now] inserted in the crossroads of history, in the interweaving of memories, in the crossroads of ecumenism and part of the social commitment of the Church” It was in 1962 that<\/strong> Chiara Lubich<\/a>, after her first encounters with Christians from various Churches, invited them to get to know one another, offering the spirituality of unity<\/a> as a common basis for acknowledging one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Maria Voce<\/a> highlighted it as she read the five \u201cimperatives\u201d that were formulated in the Catholic-Lutheran Document From Conflict to Communion, <\/em>which was elaborated for the 500th<\/sup> Anniversary of the Reformation. Maria Voce remarked<\/strong>: \u201cThey are imperatives which, in my opinion, do not only regard Lutherans and Catholics, but are able to be practiced by Christians from all the Churches\u2026 as an ecumenical undertaking that will be quite worthwhile.\u201d This was also affirmed by Emeritus Bishop Christian Krause<\/strong>, once President of the World Lutheran Federation Emeritus Bishop Christian Krause,<\/p><\/div> Among the various greetings<\/strong> that were sent, in one sent by the President of the Pontifical Council for the Unity of Christians, Cardinal Kurt Koch<\/strong>, he remarks: “The experience of the ecumenism of life shows us that unity grows \u201cwalking together\u201d and that walking together means that we are already living and achieving unity.\u201d The days were spent in an atmosphere of dialogue<\/strong> and mutual acceptance, prayer and sharing experiences of Gospel living from the perspective of unity and openness to the other, experiencing the beauty of Christ\u2019s Church in which the followers of Christ practice what is the very heart of the Gospel: mutual love. The prayer for unity in the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian<\/strong> in Rome, was much looked forward to, where a Pact of Mutual Love<\/em> (see Jn 13:34) was pronounced so that \u201cthis might be the witness taken back into our communities, our countries and societies.\u201d For many people it evoked the Pentecost. But all of this has a foundation<\/strong>: Jesus on the cross who cries out \u201cWhy?\u201d Jesus crucified and abandoned<\/a> who took every division upon himself. When he is recognized and loved \u2013 in accordance with Chiara Lubich\u2019s intuition and way of life \u2013 he is the key that unlocks unity with God and with our brothers and sisters. This was confirmed in the very touching testimonies from real life. Rev Dr Martin Robra (WCC)<\/p><\/div> And it was reiterated in a video message by General Secretary Rev Olaf Fykse Tveit<\/strong> from the World Council of the Churches (WCC). Among other things, he mentioned what had already been expressed in 1925: \u201cThe more we draw near to the cross, the more we\u2019ll draw near among us Christians. The interventions of several theologians<\/strong> from different Churches, including Rev<\/strong> Dr Martin Robra<\/strong> (WCC):<\/strong> \u201cIf we keep Jesus forsaken among us as we walk together on our pilgrimage, we\u2019ll learn together how to reconfigure the past that separates us and see with more clarity where God wants to lead us as disciples of Christ.\u201d Other interventions<\/strong> of a more theological nature along with experiences from real life, helped to deepen the link between unity and Jesus forsaken in the spirituality of unity, and share the fruits of this ecumenical lifestyle. The word \u201cdialogue\u201d was mentioned many times as a powerful means for ecumenical unity by Focolare co-president, Movement, Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n<\/a>, and by Romanian Orthodox Dr Vasile Stanciu<\/strong>. Maria Voce with Bishop Brian Farrel<\/p><\/div> Bishop Brian Farrel<\/strong> from the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Unity Among Christians, highlighted the contribution and the faithfulness of Chiara Lubich, as well as the actions of the Focolare Movement towards a Church of communion. There was also encouragement from Pope Francis<\/strong> who, during the General Audience on May 10th<\/sup>, publicly exhorted the participants in the Ecumenical Week \u201cto pursue the common path of unity, dialogue and friendship among religions and peoples.\u201d In conclusion<\/strong>, Metropolitan Gennadios Zervos<\/strong> from Italy and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Malta, introduced the participants to the experience of communion between Patriarch Athenagoras and Chiara Lubich: \u201cThey opened the door of reconciliation between the Churches of the East and the West and no one can close it,\u201d he declared. The Metropolitan Gennadios Zervos presented an \u201cHistoric Medal\u201d to the president of the Focolare<\/p><\/div> In that context Gennadios presented an \u201cHistoric Medal\u201d to the president of the Focolare as a sign of gratitude for what \u201cthe charism of unity and love of Chiara has done in history and is doing still now today for opening paths of reconciliation and dialogue among the Churches in in the world.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ve constructed so much together. Now we need to pick up the pace, so that the communion will be visible and complete.\u201d With these words Maria Voce<\/strong> captured the vitality and commitment of a journey that continues. See also:<\/strong> Interview<\/span><\/span> Maria Voce <\/a>(Italian<\/span><\/span>) Message<\/span><\/span> Dr Olav Fykse Tveit<\/a> Message Cardinal Kurt Koch<\/a> Message P. Bartolomeo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will soon be celebrated in the southern hemisphere, a special “Ecumenical Week” has already concluded in the northern hemisphere: 700 Christians of 69 Churches and ecclesial Communities from 42 countries and 4 continents.<\/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-329206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329206","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=329206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a>