16 July 1949 – 16 July 2026: "Do you know where we are?"

Rocca di Papa, 16 July 2026

To everyone belonging to the Focolare Movement in the world

Dear everyone,

This year, I would like to celebrate the 16^th of July by offering everyone a precious gift: the narrative, in Chiara’s own words, of the Pact with Foco (Igino Giordani) and the entrance into Paradise.

In 1999 she shared this experience with hundreds of Gen gathered together at their congress. I’ve listened to it several times over the last few days, and the question Chiara put to Foco – “Do you know where we are?” – has continued to resonate within me, in all its remarkable relevance.

“I had entered into the Uncreated,” Chiara recounted to the Gen. From that moment on, she gave us a new perspective on everything: a view from on high, from God’s point of view.

Today, that question – “Do you know where we are?” – is addressed to each and every one of us. It invites us to recognise that God, in Jesus and through the gift of his Spirit, is living among us, permeating all things and illuminating history. For this reason, we wish to renew together, with faith and courage, our choice of God and our commitment to living mutual love, aware of the uniqueness of our charism, which is “… ‘for the world’ – we are united so that all may be one.” ¹

This is also the focus of our commitment last March, at the conclusion of our General Assembly: to seek new ways of living unity and to make a genuine conversion towards what humanity needs most today, namely relationships of genuine love, modelled on the Trinity.

It is a love, as Emmaus once wrote, precisely on the 16^th of July: “which is capable of creating, forgiving, welcoming, sharing, seeing beauty where there is ugliness, and transforming what is negative into something positive.” ²