On March 10, during a final hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Chiara received a personal letter from Benedict XVI and a visit from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.
On March 13 she was transferred to her home in Rocca di Papa, where she was able to greet many people right until her final moments. In a serene atmosphere of prayer and intense emotion, Chiara concluded her earthly journey on March 14, 2008 at the age of 88. But, as she said in 1992 [1] “It is not true that with death everything ends. It is true that with death everything begins”. At 2:00 – to use the expression with which Chiara herself had repeatedly announced the death of many close to her – she “left for Heaven” with a weak, but determined “yes” to the mystical spouse of her soul, Jesus Forsaken – Risen.

Note

  1. [1] Rocca di Papa, 3.4.92
Photo taken in August 1991, with members of the Focolare Movement from Eastern European countries that belonged to the communist bloc meeting Chiara and each other for the first time in Katowice (Poland).
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