Witness to unity and become contemplatives, Pope tells Focolare bishops

September 09, 2026

Pope Leo XIV today encouraged four cardinals and 79 other bishops who are friends of the Focolare Movement to witness to unity and to nourish their interior lives.

The prelates are attending a conference devoted to the theme of “Now is the time for charity: Building peace through witnessing unity.” Pope Leo said during this morning’s audience that the theme

is one of the essential elements of the movement founded by Chiara Lubich, and one that is close to my heart. In an age sadly marked by increasing polarization, our Lord enabled her to give witness to both the sense and service of unity, thus becoming a sign for her own and for future generations. If that was Chiara’s task forty years ago, it is ours even more urgently today.

“As sharers in the spiritual legacy of Chiara Lubich, and as ministers of Christ’s Church in a fragmented world, you are called to give witness to this longed-for unity of the human family,” the Pope continued. “The answer to the sad divisions that plague our world lies not in forming more committees or launching more projects, but in going back to the source of our unity in the Holy Trinity. Indeed, we must become contemplatives!”

Pope Leo explained:

I hope you will take the opportunity to nourish your interior life: with generous and sustained prayer before our Lord in the Tabernacle, with a calm and attentive celebration of the Office and Holy Mass, and finally by frequent contemplation of the indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity in the depth of our being. In this way, you will be witnesses to each other and to those you serve of that unity which builds lasting peace.

The goal of the Focolare Movement (Work of Mary) 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.”

 

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Further information:

• Bishops who are friends of the Focolare Movement (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 9/9/26)
• Audience with Bishops who are friends of the Focolare Movement (Holy See Press Office, 9/9/26)
• Pope: Emphasis on individual freedom makes us less free to be ourselves (Vatican News, 9/9/26)
• Witnessing unity for the human family (Focolore Movement, 9/9/26)