0
0
Pope Leo’s address to the bishops who are Friends of the Focolare Movement
Clementine Hall – Wednesday, September 9, 2026
The theme of your congress, “Giving Witness to Unity,”
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!
Friends of the Focolare Movement, I warmly greet you as you gather for your spiritual meeting. I am grateful for your visit today, which expresses your collegial affection. I thank you for your continued prayers. I am joyful to see so many of you from different countries, backgrounds, and social situations reunited in one spirit under the Work of Mary. The reassuring words of our Lord come to mind: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).
Indeed, the theme, chosen for your congress, “giving witness to unity” is one of the essential elements of the movement founded by Chiara Lubich, and one that is close to my heart.
In an age sadly marked by increasing polarization, our Lord enabled her to give witness to both the sense and service of unity, thus becoming a sign for her own and for future generations.
If that was Chiara’s task forty years ago, it is ours even more urgently today.
I think of the difficult social situations, circumstances and divisions that some of you endure in your countries, situations such as prejudice, racism, religious intolerance, even violence.
I also think of the situation here in the West, which is now marked by the effects of individualism.
The once-stable networks of family, friendship, and community are giving way to greater fragmentation.
Freedom is increasingly presented as absolute autonomy—the ability to pursue happiness without moral, natural, or human limits.
And yet, we observe a paradox.
Despite the emphasis on individual freedom, people today often feel less free to be their genuine selves or to follow their highest ideals.
This is due to a hidden fear of being judged or of not fitting in.
This loss of openness to others exacerbates a sense of disunity and ultimately deprives us of the happiness for which we were created.
After all, we are made in the image of the Triune God, who is a communion of persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
By revealing the heart of the Father, Christ shows us the deepest meaning of our existence and relationships and the path to happiness.
Through the gift of the Spirit, we have become children of God and sharers in the divine life. From this communion with God flows our communion with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the Church: a mystery of communion.
As sharers in Chiara Lubich’s spiritual legacy and ministers of Christ’s Church in a fragmented world, you are called to bear witness to the unity of the human family that we all long for.
The solution to the divisions that plague our world is not to form more committees or launch more projects, but to return to the source of our unity: the Holy Trinity.
Indeed, we must become contemplatives!
With these thoughts in mind.
I encourage you to take advantage of our time together to experience the brotherhood that unites us in Christ.
These are days of grace spent with our brothers in the episcopate.
We know how beneficial it is.
I am glad, therefore, that you have found spiritual support in the Work of Mary.
May it also help you live out communion and fraternity in your respective bishops’ conferences.
Most importantly, I hope you will take this opportunity to nourish your interior life.
Do so through generous and sustained prayer before Our Lord in the tabernacle, calm and attentive celebration of the Office and Holy Mass, and frequent contemplation of the indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity in the depths of our being.
In this way, you will bear witness to each other and to those you serve to the unity that fosters lasting peace.
In closing, I commend you and the Work of Mary to the loving intercession of Our Lady, Mother of the Church.
To all of you, I gladly impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in Christ our Lord.
Thank you.
