Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<div><em>Margaret Karram, an Arab-Palestinian focolarina comments on Pope Francis’s message for the 2016 World Day of Peace.</em></div> <p><strong><a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20151208_messaggio-xlix-giornata-mondiale-pace-2016.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></strong><strong>The message of Pope Francis in this Jubilee Year of Mercy urges us more than ever to live the immense gift of Peace.</strong> It is a strong plea that shakes our conscience and invites us to convert ourselves. Peace and Mercy: two inseparable elements for coexistence among people and with all Creation, and two words which we have become more aware of today, now that they are absent. A piece of the papal message brought me back to my homeland. <strong>It is really moving for me – an Arab-Catholic of Palestinian origin –</strong> to study Jesus’ behaviour following the motto, “Overcome indifference and achieve Peace.” In retracing those places, I can affirm that He lived as a Person and narrated divine parables taken from daily life.</p>
<p><em>Bestowing each other with one’s heritage of life and concepts on the Holy Spirit: the objective of the symposium held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.</em></p> <p><strong></strong>Already in 2004, getting to know each other, establishing dialogue and intensifying the spirit of communion were the objectives that had pushed the <strong>Orthodox Faculty of Theology of University Babeş – Bolyai of Cluj-Napoca</strong> and the members of the Focolare Movement to start a fruitful spiritual exchange of ideas and experiences. With time, this relationship was enriched by an ecumenical course that led to a dialogue at a theological level especially in recent years. In the common desire to bring Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity to Orthodox theology, this year both parties agreed to foster joint activities between the Romanian Faculty and the Sophia University Institute (SUI) in Loppiano (Florence), in a Symposium between the two academic institutions in Cluj-Napoca from 26 to 28 November.</p>
<p>E se invece di persone in fuga, si muovessero i beni?</p> <p>Non per espansioni commerciali, speculazioni, traffici, conquiste … No.<br />Ma perché sono beni dell’unica famiglia umana.</p> <p>Beni comuni da gestire con la partecipazione di chi abita le terre in cui i beni esistono o sono prodotti, da trattare nel rispetto dell’ambiente, da destinare a chi ne ha reale bisogno.</p>
<p><em>The Economy of Communion (EoC) Project lands in Central America, raising curiosity amongst business owners who are searching for values that can humanise work and production. The testimony of one architect.</em></p>
<p>Persecution, conflict and poverty have forced an unprecedented one million people to flee to Europe in 2015, according to estimates by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration, IOM.</p> <p>As of 21 December, some 972,500 had crossed the Mediterranean Sea, according to UNHCR figures. In addition, IOM estimates that over 34,000 have crossed from Turkey into Bulgaria and Greece by land.</p> <p>The number of people displaced by war and conflict is the highest seen in Western and Central Europe since the 1990s, when several conflicts broke out in the former Yugoslavia.</p>
<p><em>Helping the youth to develop their awareness in choosing the good? The good practices of the Igbarian “Fraternity” school in Nigeria.</em></p> <p><strong></strong>Education is one of the most important challenges the Nigerian schooling system has to face, and where at times Nigerian society has to deal with aggressive behavior and religious traditions that imbue fear and a sense of helplessness in the face of evil.</p> <p>“One day,” <strong>Christiane recounts,</strong> ” a mother stopped bringing her daughter to school because we had asked the parents to cut the hair of the children who were about to start the first year of nursery school. She said that someone who was believed to be in contact with spirits had told her that her daughter would die if she cut her hair. And this explained why the child no longer went to school.”</p>
<p><em>A land of varying dangers. One day it’s calm; and the next day bombs are falling. Young people from the Focolare prepare for Christmas, going from home to home, sharing and bringing hope.</em></p> <p><strong></strong><strong>“The life of each day varies, because the danger varies. </strong>On some days nothing happens, and you could even forget that there was a war. On other days you could be on your way to work and get hit by stray bullets, or walk into a battle, or under falling bombs in the middle of a civilian area,” Pascal reports. He has been living in a focolare in Syria for several years. <strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><em>Six experts from New Humanity attend a high-level meeting of the United Nation General Assembly, December 15-16. Some of the topics that were discussed included: fighting terrorism, protecting human rights, empowering women.</em></p> <p><strong></strong><strong>Taking stock 10 years from the World Summit on the Information Society </strong>(Tunis, 2004): building an information society that is focused on the human person; inclusive and oriented towards development; finding adequate forms of funding equitable development of communications infrastructures; identifying common mechanisms and the effective management of the Internet. How far have we come in the past 10 years?</p>
<p><em>Interview with Antonio Diana, a business owner from Caserta, Italy, on the recent international “Environment and Rights” meeting promoted by the Focolare.</em></p> <p><strong></strong><strong>Doing business today is no easy “business.” Especially in Caserta, a region of southern Italy known as the “land of fire” </strong>because of its toxic waste dumps. Yet, it is a “splendid land,” said Bishop D’Alise during the visit of Pope Francis – that has become a dumping ground of waste. The unemployment takes your breath away and steals away the hope of upcoming generations.”</p> <p><strong>An interview with Antonio Diana, president of </strong><a href="http://www.erreplast.it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Erreplast</a><strong>, a local waste recycling industry: </strong></p>
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
More than 170 events across dozens of countries brought United World Week 2026 to life through initiatives, meetings, and concrete actions dedicated to peace, fraternity, and the building of a more united world.
Dialogue & Interculture
Health, Sport & Ecology
Dialogue & Interculture
Active Citizenship & Politics
After thirty years spent in some of the world's most challenging environments, Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, reflects on child protection, hope and the humanity that endures even in the midst of war.
Active Citizenship & Politics
Stefano Zaffino, author of Fraternità e Profezia (Fraternity and Prophecy): The Thought of Igino Giordani in the Wake of the Encyclical Fratelli tutti, reflects on fraternity as a response to the conflicts and divisions of the contemporary world.
Economy & Work
Anna Granata, professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, reminds us that teaching peace is not an abstract utopia. It is something that happens every day in Italian classrooms among children with diverse stories, languages, and backgrounds.
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