It was last winter when friends from Prato and Umbria, belonging to two spontaneous dialogue groups (Luciana is part of both groups), people of different cultures, some with religious references, others without any religious reference, but who have all known the charisma of Chiara Lubich's unity, gave life to a reflection and sharing on “Fratelli tutti “, the last Encyclical of Pope Francis.

Friends from other cities in Tuscany, Trentino, Veneto, Lombardy, Lazio and Puglia were soon added.

The goal: “entering the Encyclical as protagonists …”

At the end of the in-depth analysis, the following letter was sent to Pope Francis which collects the value, meaning and spirit of the initiative undertaken.

Dear Pope Francis,

in one of your speeches in Cuba in 2015, you tell of a meeting you had with the parish priest of a community in Buenos Aires in which the priest, illustrating the works carried out in some rooms and introducing you to who had done them, told you: «This is the architect, he is Jewish; this is a communist, this is a practicing Catholic, this is...".

Pope Francis, we are these: 30 people of different cultures, about half without religious references, belonging to spontaneous groups, who have in common the desire to experience dialogue grafted onto the charism of unity that Chiara Lubich has passed on to us.

In these months of travel restrictions and the absence of in-person meetings, we "felt" we were traveling through the eight chapters of the Encyclical Letter "Fratelli Tutti", with fortnightly stops, using new technologies: we come from Lombardy, Puglia, Tuscany, Trentino, Umbria, Lazio and Veneto and for many of us it was the first encounter with an encyclical.

What are the results of this trip? Each of us could say a lot.
"One day while going shopping, as often happens, there was a man next to the trolleys. It was no longer enough to offer him a coin, it was first necessary to meet his gaze, look him in the face. A few words, without haste, and the aftermath was very different from the before."

What is surprising is that this experience includes everyone, regardless of ideal and/or religious references.

"To me, a non-believer and agnostic, Pope Francis sent a letter and I felt the concrete invitation to reflection and dialogue. ... it was a valid experience because I found people who "respected" the thinking of those who are different... we can find in the search for the things of life, fundamental realities as a common reference."

Dear Pope Francis, thank you for the encyclical and for what you are doing for humanity and for the Church.

We would be happy to meet you personally to give you the fruit of this work composed of the reflections of all those who participated.
Those of us who are religious pray for you, while those who are not send you an intense thought full of sympathy and gratitude.

28/08/2021

And Pope Francis immediately responded:

"Thank you so much for your letter of August 30th. Thank you for your testimony. I was happy. In the end you say: we would be happy to be able to meet you personally to give you the fruit of this work composed of the reflections of all those who participated. I am willing. I pray for you. Do it for me... or, at least send me "good life". May the Lord bless you."

And here it happened. At the end of the Audience on 24 November 2011 Luciana, pervaded by evident emotion, delivered, directly into the hands of Pope Francis, on behalf of all those who participated in the initiative called "Fratelli tutti", some present, others unable to participate but in unity, the result of the work carried out, collected in a booklet entitled “unity in diversity”. Aurora Nicosia, director of Città Nuova, was also present (see item he wrote) and Mary Angels.

Luciana says she had the sensation that Pope Francis' eyes, always an expression of deep listening, of immense love, lit up particularly as he handed him the book. Maybe at that moment he remembered our letter, who we were.