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Focolare Movement
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== Beginnings == {{Further|World War II in Italy|Italian Civil War}} In the Northern Italian city of [[Trento]] in 1943, in the climate of violence and hatred of the [[Second World War]] and Nazi Occupation of Northern Italy (under the puppet state known as [[Republic of Salò]]), the young elementary school teacher [[Chiara Lubich]] saw God's Love as the only thing that was not fallen in rubble. With a copy of the [[Bible|Gospel]] from her spiritual father, she and few girls, while sheltering during air raids, started to live each phrase for the day or for the week.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Olivero |first=Antonio |date=2017-12-19 |title=Chiara Lubich: "Parole di Vita" {{!}} focolaritalia.it |url=https://www.focolaritalia.it/2017/12/19/chiara-lubich-parole-vita/ |access-date=2025-02-04 |language=it-IT}}</ref> Of the many phrases lived she claimed two struck her deeply: Jesus' prayer "that they all may be one"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: John 17:21 - King James Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2017%3A21&version=KJV |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Bible Gateway |language=en}}</ref> and Jesus' outcry "My God, why have you forsaken me?"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Matthew 27:46 - Bible Gateway |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2027%3A46 |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=www.biblegateway.com |language=en}}</ref> Later she will call these "the two faces of the medal that forms the movement".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Il respiro dell'anima |url=https://edizionicittanuova.it/prodotto/il-respiro-dellanima/ |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=Edizioni Città Nuova |language=it-IT}}</ref> During the war this group of young girls and many others sequentially joined in helping those in the shelters and in the poorest parts of the town of Trento, sharing her vision that was later called "Ideal". In the aftermath of the [[World War II|Second World War]] criticisms, misunderstandings and accusations began to spread against this new community in Trento. Living the Gospel, communicating experiences, sharing their few possessions and making unity their ideal, aroused suspicions of Protestantism or a new form of communism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bernhard Callebaut |date=2018 |title=Between Tradition and Prophecy: The Impact of the Personality of Chiara Lubich |journal=Claritas: Journal of Dialogue and Culture |volume=7 |pages=60–71}}</ref> Their radical way of living the Gospel that Chiara proposed attracted the accusation of "fanaticism", and the word "love", not customarily used in the Catholic sphere at that time, was likewise misunderstood.<ref name=Gallagher>Gallagher, Jim. ''A woman's work: Chiara Lubich'', HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd., London 1997</ref> In 1948, the Italian politician and journalist [[Igino Giordani]], an [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Italian Republic Constitution father]], member of the [[Italian Parliament]] and pioneer of [[Catholic Church and ecumenism|ecumenism]] joined the group, bringing social unity and politics as new dimensions of the ideal. Giordani is one of the co-founders, along with Fr. [[Pasquale Foresi]], who would work on the theological ground to answer the Catholic Church questions and later help found the movement main journal, New City Press, in 1964.<ref name=":2" /> The movement, even under adversities between 1949–50, spread rapidly throughout [[Northern Italy]] and across Europe, then worldwide. In 1958, members of the movement from Europe began to travel to other continents at the request of people who wanted to know more about it. In 1958, it reached various countries in South America, in 1961 North America, in 1963 Africa, in 1966 Asia and 1967 Australia.<ref name=Gallagher/> Today it has 140,440 members in more than 180 countries. People more broadly involved in the movement are estimated by [[Holy See|the Vatican]] at 4.5 million.<ref name=":2" />
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