Maria Voce, the first President of the Focolare Movement after its founder, Chiara Lubich, passed away last Friday, June 20, 2025, at her home. The funeral took place yesterday, June 23, at 3:00 p.m. at the International Focolare Center in Rocca di Papa (Rome).
This was announced by Margaret Karram, the current president, in a letter addressed to all members of the Focolare worldwide. Read the full letter.
At another point, she also expressed the immense pain she felt at his death and the fraternal and filial bond that united them:
“As the first president of the Focolare Movement after our Founder, she managed with intelligence, foresight, and the necessary determination the difficult transition of our Work from the founding to the post-founding phase. She managed to combine her luminous fidelity to the Charism of Unity with the courage to face the numerous challenges of a global association such as ours, which operates on so many levels of human, social, and institutional life.
The name 'Emmaus', which Chiara Lubich had given him as a program for life, also became the program for his government: walking together, in a synodal manner, trusting—despite the questions and perplexities that may arise along the way—in the presence of God among his people.
Jesús Morán, co-president with María Voce until 2021, acknowledges that his election marks the beginning of a new era for the Focolare movement:
I have always admired Emmaus's sobriety, his inner freedom, his determination, and his capacity for discernment, aided by a legal education that did its part.
Thank you, Emmaus, for having said a solemn "yes" at the most difficult moment of our still brief history. Mary will have welcomed you in her arms, presented you to her Son, and together you will have carried you to the bosom of the Father, who was the eternal source of your inspiration.». Full text by Jesús Morán.
Biography
Maria Voce (July 16, 1937 – June 20, 2025)
She was born in Ajello Calabro (Cosenza, Italy) on July 16, 1937. She was the eldest of seven children; her father was a doctor and her mother a homemaker. During her final year of law school in Rome (1959), she met a group of young focolarini and began to follow the spirituality of the unit. After completing her studies, she practiced law in Cosenza, becoming the first female lawyer in the city's court. She later studied theology and canon law.
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In 1963, he felt God's call to follow the path of Chiara Lubich, to whom he responded immediately.
In the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce is known as "Emmaus," a name that refers to the famous episode of the two disciples walking with Jesus after the resurrection. She herself recounts how Chiara made her decision: "Chiara confirmed a strong intuition within me: I had to dedicate my life so that all those who had the opportunity to encounter me would experience Jesus in their midst." From that moment on, her commitment has been to build bridges of unity, to merit God's presence among people.
From 1964 to 1972, remained in the Focolare communities in Sicily (Italy), Syracuse and Catania, and from 1972 to 1978 was part of Chiara Lubich's personal secretariat.
In 1977, Chiara Lubich made an important trip to Istanbul, Turkey, where she had maintained a close relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for years. During those years, Maria Voce lived in the Focolare in that city and recounted:
"It was an intense experience, not only because of the important contacts with the various Churches and with Islam, but also because we felt that only Jesus among us strengthened us in the face of the many problems of that land."
In Istanbul, Emmaus established ecumenical relations with the then Patriarch of Constantinople, Demetrius I, and with numerous Metropolitans: among them the current Patriarch Bartholomew I, and with representatives of various Churches.
In 1988 In 1988, Chiara asked Emmaus to return to Italy to work at the International Center in Rocca di Papa and join the Abba school: Interdisciplinary Study Center of the Focolare, joining in 1995 as a legal expert.
Since 2000, he has also been co-chair of the International Commission on Communion and Law, a network of professionals and academics involved in the field of justice. From 2002 to 2007, he collaborated directly with Chiara on updating the Movement's General Statutes.
July 7, 2008, a few months after the death of Chiara Lubich, she was elected president of the Focolare Movement; and the September 12, 2014 is re-elected for a second term.
He always indicated, as style of his presidency, the commitment to "prioritize relationships" and to strive with all her might toward the objective for which the Movement was founded: to seek unity at all levels, in all spheres, following the paths of the Fourth Dialogue. She herself repeatedly reiterated the importance of dialogue.
"If there is an extremism of violence," he stated at the United Nations in New York in 2015, "we must respond with equal radicalism, but in a structurally different way, that is, with the extremism of dialogue."
There have been numerous trips to all continents to meet with the communities of the Movement. …and to maintain contacts with figures from the civil and ecclesial world, from the cultural and political, ecumenical, and interreligious spheres: important steps to strengthen the bonds of friendship and collaboration undertaken by the Focolare Movement and to foster the development of the path of fraternity among peoples.
During her presidency, with both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, María Voce held meetings and audiences in which, on both sides, expressions of esteem and fraternal affection emerged.
On April 23, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI received her in a private audience. Regarding the spirituality of the Focolare, the Pope speaks of a "charism that builds bridges, that creates unity" and invites us to continue the work with ever deeper love and a desire for holiness. In October 2008, she participated and spoke at the Synod of Bishops on "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church."
November 24, 2009, Pope Benedict appointed her Consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Laity and on December 7, 2011, Consultant to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.
September 13, 2013Pope Francis received her in audience with the co-president, who was then Giancarlo Faletti. Emmaus recalls that moment:
"He immediately greeted us with a warm welcome. He made me feel at home. I experienced a great joy: that of feeling like a father, but above all, like a brother. I felt like a sister to him, and this feeling remained with me forever."
And on another occasion, he said:
"Pope Francis has always encouraged us to move forward, to embrace the signs of the times to update the charism," he said, "received for the good of many, giving joyful witness to it."
One of those occasions was the Visit of the Holy Father to the International Citadel of Loppiano (Florence, Italy) in 2018. Maria Voce is there to welcome you:
"Holy Father, we have a lofty goal; we want to 'aim high.' We would like to make mutual love the law of coexistence, which means experiencing the joy of the Gospel and feeling like protagonists of a new page in history."
In January 2011, Emmanus, along with co-president Giancarlo Faletti, is coming to Spain (Barcelona, Seville, and Madrid). This is an opportunity to learn about the people, the life, and the development of the Movement firsthand.
