Fokolyara ( ital. Movimento dei focolari ) - the Catholic movement , which was founded by Chiara Lubich in 1943.
Focolyars live in small communities. Their goal is to strive for peace and unity, commanded in the Gospel, "overcoming age-old prejudices." Today, communities operate in more than 180 countries around the world. The movement has more than two million followers and has an ecumenical orientation. In addition to Catholics, they include Orthodox , Protestants , Anglicans , representatives of non-Christian religions, as well as those who do not profess any religion.
History
During the Second World War, Chiara Lubicch, together with other women, founded the Christian community to spread the Christian ideals of life, helping each other and neighbors. Its first meetings and readings of the Gospel took place in a bomb shelter during the bombing of her hometown of Trento , Italy . The community was called “Focolare” (possible translations: “heart”, “hearth”, “spiritual reality”).
In 1948, Chiara Lubich met with the Italian parliamentarian, writer and journalist Ijino Dzhorodani , who is considered one of the pioneers of the ecumenical movement. Together with Chiara, he took an active part in the creation of "Fokolyarov." Later, Chiara Lyubich, together with the priest, Fr. Pasquale Foresi in 1949 founded the publishing house La Citta Nuova (New Grad), which began to spread her ideas based on ecumenism .
In the 1950s, the Focolars began to hold large-scale summer meetings in the Dolomites, and from 1965 they founded a number of “small towns” in which members of the community and their friends lived. In 1967, against the backdrop of the general crisis of the family institution, Chiara Lubich founded the New Families movement.
In 1962, the movement was officially recognized by the Vatican . In its statute, approved by the Holy See , it is written that the head of Focolar will always be a woman.
On September 25, 2010, a member of the Fokolyarov movement, Chiara Badano (1971–1990) , was beatified .