When Chiara met Klaus Hemmerle (1929-1994), in the Mariapolis of 1958, he was a young priest. He was a teacher, author of numerous publications, and active in the social and ecumenical fields. Later, in 1975, he was appointed bishop of Aachen. The spirituality of unity was for him a “reality of life, but also a theological challenge”, a “school of life” and a “school for theology”.
Of that first meeting, Bishop Hemmerle recalls, «Although I did not foresee it, the closeness and presence of God opened before me in a way that, despite my intense theological studies, I had never experienced before. There, for the first time, I truly experienced God. God entered deeply into our mutual relations. It was a community experience. I was thus irresistibly drawn into this new life”.[1].