Maria Voce, a longtime close collaborator of the late Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, has been elected the new president of the movement.Almost 500 delegates from five continents voted nearly unanimously for Voce July 7 during the movement's general assembly at this lakeside town south of Rome.
Assembly participants also elected Father Giancarlo Faletti as the movement's co-president. He had been serving as the co-head of the Focolare movement in Rome.
Voce, 70, has degrees in theology and canon law, and extensive ecumenical and interreligious experience, said a July 7 statement from the movement.
Born in Italy, Voce joined Focolare in 1959 and began living with the community in 1964.
From 1978 to 1988, she lived in Turkey where she worked closely with the Orthodox ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople, the leaders of other Christian churches and Muslim leaders.
Father Faletti, 67, who was elected as co-president with more than two-thirds of the votes, has a degree in economics and served as head of the Focolare movement in Genoa and Rome.
Delegates attending the July 1-31 general assembly also were to vote for council members in the coming days.
The lay movement, which aims to promote world unity through the living witness of Christian love and holiness in the family and small community, now has more than 2 million members and associates in 182 countries.
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