International Centre of Communion and Liberation: Instrument of Service in Proclaiming and Bearing Witness to Christ

©Fraternità CL/Romano Siciliani

Last night, 15 October 2025, an event was held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the International Centre of Communion and Liberation, located at Via Malpighi, in Rome. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, addressed participants invited for the occasion, offering his greetings and a reflection.

Remaining “within the stream of tradition”: journeying through time anchored in communion with the Church

Cardinal Farrell highlighted that “The origin of the Centre lies in the desire that always animated Fr. Giussani: to help the Movement, born of his charism, remain ‘within the stream of tradition,’ that is, to journey through time, addressing the challenges faced by each new generation, yet always anchored in communion with the Church and from the perspective of faith that comes from it. Fully sharing the Church’s life, drawing from her spiritual patrimony, and therefore also in closeness to her institutional dimension, for this too is part of the Church. Hence the close relationship that the Centre maintains with the Holy See and with the Dicastery.”

The International Centre: a place of authentic realism and permanent criticism of every ideology

“Today,” the Cardinal continued, “twenty-five years after its inauguration, it is important to renew that deep motivation that Fr. Giussani placed at the heart of the International Centre’s activity. Even now, the Centre – never as an isolated or self-referential entity, but as an ‘instrument of service’ – is called to embody the desire of the entire Communion and Liberation Movement to stand alongside the Successor of Peter in his mission of proclaiming and bearing witness to Christ.”

Cardinal Farrell recalled two key points identified by Fr. Giussani and confirmed by the Centre’s long experience: “The first is that the Centre – and, together with it, the entire Fraternity of CL – must regard the Church as ‘the place of authentic realism’. The second is that the Church is also ‘the place of permanent criticism of every ideology’. In this regard, the Centre’s close relationship – and that of the whole Movement – with ecclesial institutions, pastors, and other Church realities will be of great help in overcoming every ‘ideological temptation’.”

An experience of the beauty of belonging to the ecclesial communion

In conclusion, Cardinal Farrell expressed his hope that the International Centre “may continue to carry out a fruitful mission of service in the years to come, and that the entire Communion and Liberation Movement may fully experience – and bear witness to others – the beauty of belonging to the ecclesial communion.”

Along with Cardinal Farrell, Fr. Andrea D’Auria, Director of the International Centre, and Davide Prosperi, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, also spoke at the celebration. The evening ended with a live performance of Franz Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano, D. 821, introduced by Professor Pier Paolo Bellini and performed by Maestro Andrea Noferini (cello) and Maestro Giulio Giurato (piano).

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The Centre of Communion and Liberation has been working in Rome to facilitate the service of the Fraternity to the Pope and the universal Church.

Members of the Fraternity are men and women of all conditions and states who find in CL their path to holiness in service to the Church. All information concerning the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation can be found in the official Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, which lists the international associations of the faithful and other ecclesial realities formally recognized or erected by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.