Editing Communion and Liberation (section)

==History==
{{Main|Luigi Giussani}}
Communion and Liberation's origin is in the educational and [[catechetical]] methods of [[Luigi Giussani]] who in 1954, abandoned his teaching position at the [[Venegono Inferiore|Venegono]] seminary to teach Catholic religion at {{ill|Berchet High School|it|Liceo classico Giovanni Berchet}} in [[Milan]]. Following daily encounters with his students, Giussani soon became an assistant to [[Azione Cattolica|Catholic Action]] via the {{lang|it|Gioventù Studentesca}} (Student Youth) branch.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The life of Luigi Giussani|last=Alberto|first=Savorana|isbn=978-0773552173|location=Montreal|oclc=1028904627|date = 26 December 2017}}</ref> Within a few years, GS widely spread within and well beyond the Milanese diocese.

Though GS was part of Catholic Action, differences in approach caused internal tension and an eventual schism. In 1968, various members abandoned the group.<ref name=":0" /> The ones who remained faithful to Giussani organized themselves in what they eventually named "Communion and Liberation." The name was derived from a flyer distributed by some university students in 1969 with the aim to respond to the time's common mentality. While the world affirmed that man's freedom rested in revolution, they believed Christian communion was liberation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Communion and liberation : a movement in the church|date=2000|publisher=Published for Cooperative Editoriale Nuovo Mondo by McGill-Queen's University Press|others=Rondoni, Davide, 1964-|isbn=9780773568297|location=Montrâeal [Que.]|oclc=181843433}}</ref>

Giussani said that he never planned to found a Catholic movement. In a letter to [[Pope John Paul II]], he wrote, "Not only did I never intent to 'found' anything, but I believe that the genius of the movement whose birth I witnessed was the perceived urgency to proclaim the need to return to the elementary aspects of Christianity. That is a passion for the Christian fact as such, in its original elements. That's it."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scritti.luigigiussani.org/en/s/nella-fedelta-al-magistero-abbiamo-sempre-voluto-portare-la-gente-a-scoprire-come-cristo-e-presenza-20050528|title=Scritti di Don Luigi Giussani|website=Scritti.luigigiussani.org|language=en|access-date=2018-07-23}}</ref> The pope was said to have been an ardent advocate of the movement, maintaining that it is a vanguard in "the work of overcoming the division between the Gospel and Culture".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fundamentalisms Observed|last=Sciences|first=American Academy of Arts and|date=1991|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0226508781|location=Chicago|pages=123}}</ref> John Paul II also supported the work of the Italian politician [[Rocco Buttiglione]], a member of the Communion and Liberation, particularly those that confirmed his European and American views.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pope John Paul II and the Church|last=Hebblethwaite|first=Peter|date=1995|publisher=Sheed & Ward|isbn=1556128142|location=Kansas City|pages=216}}</ref> The pope's attitude was influenced by his papacy's focus on moral issues as well as the movement's anti-liberal orientation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTJHDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Communion+and+Liberation%22+pope+john+paul&pg=PT44|title=The Rising Laity: Ecclesial Movements since Vatican II|last=Faggioli|first=Massimo|date=2016|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=9781587685231|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Julián Carrón - Padova 24-02-2016 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Julián Carrón, Padua 2016]]
Giussani's former high school and university students began to express their desire to live the experience of the movement in a more stable way. Their desire was fulfilled on February 11, 1982, when the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation was recognized by the [[Pontifical Council for the Laity]] as a lay association of pontifical rights.<ref name=":1" />

After Giussani's death on February 22, 2005, responsibility over Communion and Liberation was passed on to Spanish priest and theologian [[Julián Carrón]], who resigned in 2021<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://english.clonline.org/fr-carron|title=Leader of CL since 2005|date=2017-01-13|work=English|access-date=2018-07-23|language=EN}}</ref> and was succeeded by Davide Prosperi.