The Nuova Global Foundation was launched last November 30 2021 as a new initiative, to spearhead and support capacity-building among media, which were focused on fostering peace and reconciliation globally, and on building universal fraternity.

The Foundation, with the backing of the Focolare Movement, aims to drive awareness of inclusive global development. It will focus on communitarian and solutions journalism, giving a voice to people at the grassroots level, and empowering the development of concrete solutions and collective action towards a united world.

To begin with, the Foundation will bolster the efforts of its worldwide affiliate network of 21 magazines and publishing houses of the Città Nuova (New City) brand, under the Focolare Movement. This network brings together nearly 100 journalists from around the world, who are dedicated to the mission of inclusivity and promoting dialogue among peoples, cultures, societies, countries, and religions.

The Foundation will help strengthen and expand this network of communicators, at a time where dialogue and other peace-building efforts are coming under increasing threats.

“We believe in this time of pandemic that it is even more critical to create solutions for fraternity. We hope that this unique vision of a global foundation for media that builds bridges will result in a united world. That it is being set up on the 25th anniversary of the awarding of the UNESCO Peace Prize for Education to Chiara Lubich [founder of the Focolare Movement] is indeed a fitting contribution to dialogue and fraternity,” said Federico Vescovini, Chairman of Nuova Global Foundation.

Nearly 300 people were in attendance at the conference, which comprised an online broadcast and a physical event in Rome. Also at the event, two initiatives of the Foundation were presented:

1. The Inclusive Economy Report, a global issue that collects data and stories of impact towards a more inclusive world, will be published in the first quarter of 2022 in different languages;

2. The Unity Mark, a global award program for individuals and companies who can demonstrate that their content contributes to building a united world.

In his opening remarks, Federico Vescovini, Chairman of Nuova Global Foundation, said, “The major challenge for any media organizations today is to combine sustainability with positive impact instead of bowing merely to commercial interests which many of them do. To address this issue, it was clear that we needed to implement proper fundraising and financing, and to attract and pay professionals to do a better job at impacting a united world. What we seek to do is to build a networked global media channel that uses the existing New City editions as the grass-root layer. Just as Chiara invested the money of the UNESCO Peace Prize for the construction of a little town for unity in the Philippines called “Peace” that over the years has generated a fruitful space for interreligious dialogue in Asia, so too we want to realize together a new model of global media based on universal fraternity…”

He continued to explain the 4 pillars to help and positively influence leaders who do want to impact the world for the common good and fraternity.

“ECONOMICS, our goal is to present plausible ideas and a growing body of evidence that an economy based on inclusiveness, fraternity and planet is not only essential, but it can also work.

In POLITICS, our goal is to present stories and examples of people in politics going the extra mile to build a united world, as well as to measure the impact of discord in politics that harms our collective good.

In RELIGIONS, our goal is to present the innovative progress of religions coming together for the common good, and to offer a growing base of evidence of religions at the service of humanity.

Finally, in EDUCATION, our aim is to show how an inclusive form of education, one that respects diversity, is beneficial for humans and sustainable development.”

Focolare president Margaret Karam expounded more on the focus and goals of the Nuova Global and the New City editions in general.

“When Città Nuova began in the 1950s, its purpose was to enable the people who had taken part in the Focolare’s annual Mariapolis in the Dolomite mountains of Northern Italy to remain in touch with one another. The name Mariapolis means ‘City of Mary.’ Citta Nuova was a means of sharing information, but it also allowed people to ‘network,’ and to keep relationships alive even if they were physically distant from each other: it helped them to continue the sharing begun at the Mariapolis and to continue living the charism of unity together.

“What does Città Nuova say today and how can we look to the future with this further development of Nuova Global?”

I would like to emphasize three aspects in particular:

1. The vision

The invitation to look for the positive has always characterized New City’s communication: a style of communication in which the good is always sought out and brought to light, even if it is hidden; thus, even where divisions seem to prevail, what unites is of value. Certainly, in these times, the difficulties are enormous: the pandemic, the geo-political crisis. But precisely for this reason, “new eyes” are needed, even in the media, that allow us to grasp opportunities, means and instruments to continue contributing to unity among individuals and among peoples, tools that unite, that indicate ways to build fragments of fraternity.

This outlook is already at the “heart” of the work of journalists and communicators in New City and from now on, with Nuova Global, it will only expand and be enriched by the ever-closer collaboration of New City editions in different parts of the world.

2. Space for dialogue

The pages of a newspaper, a book, or a website can become open and inclusive spaces, opportunities for encounters between peoples, cultures and visions of the world that are different and even opposing, but that never cease to seek ways of comparison and dialogue on the path of fraternity. Now, with the Foundation of Nuova Global and its planetary dimension, this mission is enriched by new partners and new cultural spaces.

3. Increasing collaboration

Since the beginning of the various editions of New City, we have worked with a wide variety of organizations, bodies, and associations, many of which are here today, to advance the goal of a united world. Nevertheless, we must continue to work together, to unite our human, cultural and economic resources with those who, in every part of the world, share the same goals.

Karram concluded with a quotation from Chiara Lubich who, in the year 2000, addressed an audience of media workers at Castel Gandolfo: “At this point, I would like to raise a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the way he is present even in modern discoveries and in new technologies, and for the way he guides history. At this very moment, humanity seems to be wandering in the dark, after the collapse of powerful ideologies and the obscuring of so many values, and yet, at the same time, there is such a great yearning for a more united world and a call for universal fraternity. At this very moment, we find ourselves equipped with these powerful means of communication, which are a ‘sign of the times’ that says ‘unity.’ Can’t we see the hand of God in all of this?”

In the end, Karram invites us to “do all that we possibly can so that through the Nuova Global Foundation, we can fulfill this vision of the world on the way to unity.”

Jose Aranas