The youth of the Focolare Movement have been holding the united World Week from May 1st to May 7th for 25 years already - it was launched in 1995 at the Genfest in Rome: eight days of several and diverse initiatives organised worldwide, with the aim of showing that fraternity is possible.

In 2020, when the Centenary of Chiara Lubich gives a peculiar significance to these activities, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the youth to reorganise everything in a different and creative way: and all the initiatives will now be held online.

The central theme will be “In Time for peace”. The two main worldwide events and many other local ones will provide space for a marathon of ideas and testimonies from one side of the globe to the other to relate humanity’s journey towards universal brotherhood, even at the time of Covid-19.
Thus, through the message promoted by United World Week, the Focolare Youth want to symbolically join Pope Francis in his constant appeal to humanity for peace and care for the most vulnerable and also Antònio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations in his appeal for a global ceasefire.

The first worldwide event will be held on Saturday May 2nd, at 12.00 (UTC +2), live streaming “#InTimeForPeace Web Event”: various cities all over the world will be connected and experiences, activities, debates and artistic
performances will be shared. On Sunday May 3, from 11:00 to 12:00 the virtual Run4unity will be held in each time zone. This sports relay race will embrace the whole world through games, challenges, experiences and commitments and spread a symbolic rainbow of peace on earth.