As early as 1962, he began a missionary presence in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for which his high school students were completely responsible.
At the same time, the experience of the Movement was spreading to the various regions of Italy, thanks to several encounters of Father Giussani and to the vacations of the first GS students, starting from the Adriatic coast and reaching as far as Trentino and Sicily. In the Seventies, the experience had “penetrated the territories of the peninsula, and it reached Switzerland, Spain, Brazil, the Congo, and Uganda. Nor did it refrain from crossing the Iron Curtain into Yugoslavia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. But more significant than its geographical expansion was the Movement’s presence in every area of social and ecclesiastical life: universities, schools, work, charities, culture, music, theater, and so on” (M. Camisasca, Comunione e Liberazione: La ripresa, 1969-1976 [Communion and Liberation: The Resurgence]).
In the Eighties, the Movement spread by way of many students who were studying abroad. Such was the case for many universities in South America and North America. In addition, sometimes due to chance occurrences (a job transfer, friendships, or unexpected work partnerships), groups grew and multiplied in France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, England, Japan, Taiwan, and the USSR (later Russia). Aside from these phenomena, invitations from bishops and priests for CL to send priests or laymen educated in the Movement became more pressing over the years.
On September 29, 1984, as Communion and Liberation was observing the thirtieth anniversary of its birth, John Paul II granted an audience to ten thousand CL members and gave them this mandate: “Go out into the whole world and bring the truth, the beauty, and the peace that are found in Christ the Redeemer.”
This invitation marked the beginning of a new missionary phase which would lead to CL being present in roughly ninety countries in all the inhabited continents.
Where we are:
