Zagreb, April 19, 1999 (IKA) – Within the framework of the 18th Plenary Session of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Croatian bishops met with Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare Movement, at the Palace of the Archbishop in Zagreb on April 15. Also attending this meeting were Cardinal Franjo Kuharić; the apostolic nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Giulio Einaudi; and Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka. Introductory remarks were delivered by the president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Josip Bozanić of Zagreb, who pointed out that the Croatian bishops, inspired in a number of ways by the Holy Father, want to prepare with the entire Church for the grace of the Holy Year. “We are grateful to the good God that he has made us witnesses to many works of the Holy Spirit during these times. In a particular way, this is evident among Christ#!s faithful laity, who reveal the baptismal calling and mission in the Church and world in a new light,” said the archbishop.
Chiara Lubich spoke about the service which the charism of unity can offer the Church, and asked whether such charism is truly useful to the Church today. She particularly spoke about cooperation, because the Church is called to be a community. She then spoke about the need for unity in the Christian world, but also in the political area: “unity, community and cooperation are the words we encounter most frequently in the new spirituality.” Speaking about the Focolare Movement, its extensiveness and numerical strength throughout the world, its founder said that new callings are being born within the movement itself and seminaries are becoming places that radiate, while in the ecumenical sense many prejudices are being dispelled. “In the area of inter-religious dialogue, there is symbolic achievement that awakens hope within the frameworks of the major faiths. Relations with people of goodwill are cultivated for the joint defense of mankind#!s great universal values of freedom, legality, human rights and ecology.” She emphasized that the Church must take account of its institutional and charismatic aspects: “These two aspects of the Church will only be able to perform the tasks entrusted to them by God and thus make their own specific contribution if they are in perfect mutual unity.” At the end, Chiara Lubich stated: “Therefore, the Holy Father and the Church in Rome desire profound unity among various Church movements. This is an area we have particularly focused upon, as I explained several days ago in the cathedral, since our charism is unity. Unity is the characteristic that permeates all our spirituality. In observing the effects of its activity, we can say that it is like a film being shown backwards.”