“Dare to be one. The courage of unity in a divided world” was the theme of the international meeting of Bishops who are friends of the Focolare, and who belong to different Christian Churches. The theme expresses well the urgency that the Bishops feel in these times when the pandemic has aggravated rifts, violence, as well as old and new forms of loneliness all over the world. “To this, we add the unjust distribution of wealth and poverty, the dramatic gap between freedom and oppression, the growing threats to the natural environment. All this has prompted us to passionately formulate this appeal: ‘Dare to be one!’ We address it to ourselves and our fellow Bishops so that they do it, precisely, in their respective Churches and communities.” These were the words of Bishop Christian Krause, former President of the Lutheran World Federation.

“This event was promoted by the worldwide network of Bishops of various Churches who are friends of the Focolare,” explains the Catholic Bishop of Limerick (Ireland), Msgr. Brendan Leahy, their coordinator. “[The Bishops] have met regularly for 38 years to deepen their communion on the basis of the Focolare’s spirituality of unity. Our goal is to be united in Christ, and if there is the presence of Jesus among us, the journey towards unity is assured.”

The meeting took place in various modes: 10 Bishops were physically present in Castel Gandolfo (Rome), while 170 others followed the conference online, alone or in small groups, in compliance with health protocols.

The program included insights into the spirituality of unity by Chiara Lubich, life testimonies offered by Bishops of different Churches who touched on the Word of God, the mystery of Jesus crucified, abandoned and risen, the charism of unity and its incarnation in the wounds of contemporary humanity.

A sign of hope for the ecumenical journey

“We must have the courage to take risks.” “The testimonies give us the courage to be one.” “We have witnessed an experience of lived ecumenism.” These are just some of the first impressions of the 181 Bishops from 70 Churches and 45 countries.

Brendan Leahy, Catholic Bishop of Ireland, and Matti Repo, Lutheran Bishop of Finland, moderators of the meeting, after greeting the participants, mostly connected through a web link with 15 simultaneous translations, gave the floor to Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare who, after the welcome, said: “My wish – which is also a certainty – is that this meeting will lead to strengthening among all those present that wonderful reality of mutual listening and welcoming, in which the Holy Spirit becomes the protagonist of our relationships. He alone is capable of producing renewal in the ecclesial and social structure, He knows how to pave the way and make every process of reconciliation constructive. Your presence at this Conference is in itself a sign of the times.

Bishop Christian Krause, after explaining the genesis of the meeting, elaborated on the title: “ ‘Dare to be one.’ (…) It is a humble contribution to a dialogue and an ongoing initiative to share, to understand each other, and to keep the message of Jesus among us on the road to peace.” He then invited everyone not to look at maintaining their institutional power, but “to open the doors to sharing the charism of unity and Eucharistic hospitality of the children of God. Therefore, once again – for heaven’s sake – dare to be one!”

After a moment of meeting for linguistic groups to get to know each other and exchange first impressions, the life of the Word of God in the spirituality of the Focolare was deepened. A passage by Chiara Lubich read by the Anglican focolarina Sarah Finch was then enriched by the interventions of the Lutheran Bishop Dr. Matti Repo; Dr. Mervat Kelly, Syrian Orthodox focolarina; and Dr. Sandra Ferreira, a Catholic focolarina.

Afterwards, it was the Bishops themselves who gave everyone testimonies that rendered what was said visible. They were a roundup of first-hand experiences that demonstrate the effort to commit oneself to build unity between the different Churches, all moving and concrete in the various pastoral situations.

Audience with Pope Francis

On September 25, Pope Francis spoke to the Bishop participants. He said, “Faced with the ‘shadows of a closed world,’ where many dreams of unity ‘are shattered,’ where ‘a project for all’ is missing, and globalization navigates ‘without a common route,’ where the scourge of the pandemic risks exasperating inequalities, the Spirit calls us to have the audacity to be one,’ as the title of your meeting says. Dare to unity.”

On the morning of September 25, he received them in audience at the Hall of the Popes in the Vatican. Ten of them were physically present, while 180 other Bishops of 70 Churches followed the audience online.

He encouraged them to live unity, the heart of Chiara Lubich’s charism “which has grown by attracting men and women of every language and nation, with the power of God’s love that creates unity without nullifying diversity, indeed, enhancing and harmonizing them.”

He then explained that the unity that Jesus Christ has given us “is not unanimism,¹ it is not getting along at all costs. It obeys a fundamental criterion, which is respect for the person, respect for the dignity of the other, especially the poor, the least, the excluded.” Finally, the call to carry on the ecumenical journey undertaken is important, which must be, says Pope Francis: “always open, never exclusive” and concluded with a note of affection: “continue to smile, which is part of your Charism.”

Together with the Pope and the delegation of Bishops, were Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, as well as Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, president and co-president of the Focolare.

Bishop Brendan Leahy introduced the two days of the conference to the Pope, defining them as “extraordinary,” while Bishop Christian Krause (Germany), presented to the Holy Father the commitment of the Bishops to “widen the circle of these meetings between Bishops of various Churches” in order to be a contribution to heal the wounds of a divided world, of young people who are afraid to face the future. He also anticipated the desire to bring similar encounters to the African continent and beyond.

Metropolitan Chrysostomos of the Orthodox Church of Kyrenia (Cyprus), strongly underlined the experience of unity lived during the days of the conference: “(…) we found ourselves ‘one’ as in the first Christian Church, with evangelical love among us. We shared experiences, admitting our mistakes; we shared concerns and, together, we wanted to embrace Jesus on the cross, the solution for every kind of disunity; we prayed to go beyond these divisions. We want to help bring the light of Christ so that, in this way, people will not be deprived of hope.”

Focolare Communications Office

¹ A doctrine that the unifying principles in human groups are more significant than personal individualities