In Darmstadt (Germany) Chiara Lubich met some Lutheran pastors who wanted to know about her spirituality rooted in the Gospel. Thus began a fraternal relationship of ecumenical dialogue. “Until 1960 – recalls Chiara Lubich – as we were Catholics and had no knowledge whatsoever of Christians of other denominations, we thought that God had raised up the movement for the Roman Catholic Church. None of us thought about ecumenism (the plans for this Movement are in God, not in people); but in 1960 we met some Lutherans. We told them about our experience, above all we loved them. They became extremely interested" [1].

From May 24, 1961, the day of its foundation, the "Centro Uno" began collecting and disseminating news and articles, in order to increase in Catholics a sensitivity to Christian unity, and a series of ecumenical meetings began. In 1997, in Castel Gandolfo (Italy), the first International Ecumenical Congress organised by the Focolare Movement took place. There were 1,200 participants from 70 Churches, and 56 countries. On June 23 of the same year, at the opening of the Second European Ecumenical Assembly promoted by the CCEE (Council of European Episcopal Conferences) and by the CEC (Conference of European Churches that brings together the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Church and those of the Reformation). in Graz (Austria), Chiara proposed the spirituality of unity as "ecumenical spirituality". In 2002 she addressed the World Council of Churches in Geneva (Switzerland).

On August 20, 1962, towards the end of a period of rest in Oberiberg, a mountain village near the shrine of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, Chiara recalled, "I was walking down a road with my companions; the sky was all starry. I still remember the place very well. I looked up at the sky and saw the Milky Way. There, observing that infinity of tiny stars which, while remaining distinct stars, merge together and look "milky", I said, "New generations will be born: the first, the second, the third, the fourth...". The Milky Way had clarified to me the birth of the Gen Movement that would take place five years later»[1].

In 1964, the first of 33 Focolare little towns was established in Loppiano, Tuscany, about twenty kilometres south of Florence. Their aim is to live permanently the unceasing newness of the Gospel, universal fraternity. Loppiano, like the other towns built on other continents, remains a place where you can experience that unity between persons, groups and peoples is possible.