Focolare Movement reelects leader

March 14, 2026

The Focolare Movement‘s general assembly reelected Margaret Karram, its leader since 2021, to a second five-year term as president.

An Israeli-born Arab Christian, Karram studied Judaism at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles and worked for 14 years at the Italian Consulate General in Jerusalem. According to the Annuario Pontificio, Dr. Karram has been a member of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life since 2023.

The general assembly also elected Father Roberto Almada, an Argentine priest and psychiatrist, as the movement’s co-president.

The Focolare Movement’s goal is “to live and work in a way that Jesus’ prayer to the Father may be fulfilled, ‘That all may be one’ (Jn 17:21),” according to the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life’s Directory of International Associations of the Faithful. Members “do so by following the privileged path of dialogue in an ongoing endeavor to build relationships of fellowship among individuals, peoples and cultures, always with respect for diversity.”

Founded in 1943 by the Servant of God Chiara Lubich (1920-2008), the movement is officially known as the Work of Mary.

 

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Further information:

• Margaret Karram re-elected as leader of the Focolare Movement and Roberto Almada, new Co-President (Focolare Movement, 3/12/26)