MAKE EVERY PLACE AN OASIS, NOT A FORTRESS
Following the start of the General Assembly of the Focolare Movement on March 1, the next three days were dedicated to a spiritual retreat: a time of silence, prayer for peace and listening to the Spirit, along with reflection on some of the great challenges and problems of the world today.
Andrea Riccardi, Italian historian and founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio, sees a true call to fraternity for the Movements in the current world situation. A call we often fail to heed, perhaps because we are caught up in our own problems. Only by "going out," by engaging with reality, will we fulfill our mission.
Vinu Aram, a doctor and director of the Shanti Ashram International Center in India, stressed that building peace also requires deep spiritual training.
The wounds suffered by millions of women and men—poverty, injustice, migration—were the starting point for the interventions of Father Vilson Groh, a Brazilian priest committed to the marginalized neighborhoods of Florianópolis, Brazil, and Emilce Cuda, an Argentinian theologian and secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Both highlighted the enormous inequalities that exist on the planet and the importance of working alongside the most disadvantaged, recognizing in them a privileged face of the Forsaken Jesus that must be sought and found.
Chiara Giaccardi, an Italian sociologist, highlighted the value of relationships as a source of fulfillment and freedom. More than individual self-realization, she proposed "co-realization": the ability to create new and generative spaces together, even in a time marked by artificial intelligence.
But do words like "relationship" and "freedom" still have meaning in the age of Artificial Intelligence, of increasingly manipulative systems?
Paolo Ruffini, an Italian journalist and Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, and Fadi Chehadé, an expert in the field of information technology, reflected on this topic, highlighting the great opportunities and responsibilities in the field of communication.
Faced with technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, that are increasingly present in our lives, they called for promoting their ethical use, and strengthening human relationships, "making our homes and communities - as Chehadé recalled, quoting a teaching of his father - not fortresses, but oases.".
The session on March 5th was entirely dedicated to the 2021-2026 Five-Year Report, presented in the chamber by President Margaret Karram, along with some reflections from Co-President Jesús Morán. The report was discussed and analyzed in depth both in groups and in the plenary session.
Stefania Tanesini
with the Multimedia Communication and Language Services team
