Focolare Movement

They comforted the bereaved.

Such a warmth emanated from Chiara and her friends that people gave them the name Focolari, which means hearth or fireplace.

Focolari now has 2 million members in 182 countries.

Members of the Focolari community make it their rule of life 24 hours a day to live by the golden rule of Jesus.

Do to others what you would have them do to you.

Love is practical.

She liked to play tennis and hiking and these things.

And she, at the age of nine years old, and she entered the Focolari movement, which kind of stresses the trying to console the abandoned, the abandoned.

abandoned and forsaken Jesus and she wanted to be the spouse of the forsaken Jesus and she embraced that as his spouse and she wanted to console him and share in his sufferings and whatever things she had to bear and she was 16 years old.

She felt this pain in her shoulder, a sharp pain as she was playing tennis and And she just lived with it.

Yet, every year the church is decorated for the harvest celebration, and prayers are offered for farmers and the year's crops.

And also this morning, Pope Leo XIV met with bishops associated with the Focolare movement, which was founded in Italy in 1942 by laywoman Chiara Lubich.

The Pope reminded the bishops that our modern emphasis on individual freedom can, in reality, make us less free to be our genuine selves or to follow our highest ideals.

Devin Watkins reports.

Pope Leo XIV met on Wednesday with bishops associated with the Focolare movement, formerly known as the Work of Mary.

In his address, the Pope praised their focus on giving witness to unity, saying the theme of unity is dear to his heart.

In an age sadly marked by increasing polarization, he said, "Our Lord enabled Chiara Lubich to give witness to both the sins and service of unity, thus becoming a sign for her own and future generations." The Church continues to bear this task, added the Pope, saying that he recalls the prejudiced racism, religious intolerance, and even violence that the bishops face in their own countries.

This loss of openness to others worsens our sense of disunity and indeed takes away our happiness, which the Pope said we find only in communion with the triune God.