Are you ready? Let’s go on a journey through time. It’s not just any journey, we’re going back to 1991, a special year, full of great events: the end of the Soviet Union, the Gulf War and the worldwide launch of the World Wide Web. But not only that: that same year, in the city of São Paulo in Brazil, a new reality called the “Economy of Communion” was born, inspired by Chiara Lubich.

Economy and communion, two words that very rarely go together, but which Chiara, prophetically, found it necessary to associate as a response to poverty and inequality. On a visit to the colorful São Paulo, she saw a city full of gleaming skyscrapers surrounded by a crown of thorns: the favelas that, submerged by poverty, created a jarring economic and social contrast. That scene, which encapsulated the pain of an economic system that hurts, was the inspiration for something bigger and deeper: an economic movement based on the culture of “giving” as opposed to that of “having”.

Since then, the Economy of Communion has become the bearer of processes that bring us closer to a more fraternal world, thanks to companies, entrepreneurs, scholars and organizations that live communion.

Yes, the economy as a tool for building a more united and fraternal world. For this reason, thirty years of journey should be celebrated together. Let’s get back to today: next May 29, an online celebration will bring together people from all over the world, with moments of dialogue, stories, art, and the special participation of Gen Verde.

A program that will give space to four major themes that have been the protagonists of these three decades of the Economy of Communion. The starting point will be the exhortation often recalled by Chiara: “Let us not forget the poor”, the first, fundamental objective of the Economy of Communion. It will be re-proposed with the same passion lavished in this period by Pope Francis and the entrepreneurs who have embodied this dream, to focus on “our” way of seeing poverty: it is not so much a matter of fighting against it, but rather of “touching” it and “embracing” it in order to truly understand it. And who can provide the strength and courage to do this if not the young people? The young people are capable of prophecy, and it is with them that the next thirty years can be imagined. “The young people will prophesy if the elderly do not lose the ability to dream”.

The event on May 29, 2021 will be streamed live from the little town of Loppiano (Florence, Italy) from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (CEST, Italian time) with connections from hubs around the world.

Below is the schedule and link to join the 30^th anniversary celebration of Economy of Communion:

13.00 – 14.00 – EoC: from the roots to today
Recounting the historical and spiritual origins of the Economy of Communion
Talk by Vera Araujo
EoC on the move: Where have the challenges of the last 10 years of EoC history taken us? Luca Crivelli

14.00 – 14.45 – One company is not enough
Dialogue with Alberto Ferrucci and Isaías Hernando
Belamy Paluku, Economy of Communion

14.45 – 15.30 – Sister Poverty
Dialogue with Geneviève Sanze
Round table with Francesco Tortorella and Martha Pancheva (OPLA), Lia Guillen (AMU), Teresa Ganzon
EoC in dialogue with Jean Tonglet, ATD Fourth World

15.30 – 16.15 – The young people will prophesy if the elderly dream
Benedetto Gui meets with young people: EoC Youth Project, Prophetic Economy, Sophia University Institute, Economy of Francesco.
EoC in Dialogue with Stefano Zamagni

16.15 – 17.00 – Prophecy of a new Humanism
Economy and enterprise: dialogues from a past future
Talk by Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán.
Conclusions and perspectives by Luigino Bruni

Where two or more: connection with territorial HUBs… and much more!