Rome, Manila, Nairobi: Nilda Castro’s “long march”, between diplomacy and mission
the points of presence of the Focolare movement in sub-Saharan African countries
by Victor Gaetan*
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) – The classic image of the Catholic missionary remains that of a person motivated and animated by faith who leaves home to go to a distant place, never to return, or rarely to return, devoting himself entirely to the flourishing of the Church in a foreign country. This type of missionary still exists.
Likewise, the “stereotype” of a nun assisting a prelate is often linked to “housekeeping.”
During a recent reporting trip to several African countries, I encountered wonderful examples of new forms of mission among consecrated members of the Focolare Movement, and one consecrated focolarine who overturns the anonymous image of the “nameless” nun.
This is the Filipino Nilda Castro, a focolarine whose career between Rome and Manila testifies to the missionary scope of the movement founded by Chiara Lubich.
Vatican diplomacy
Nilda Castro trained for two years in Italy, then returned to the Philippines to “build the movement” for six years.
She returned to Rome as an English translator for a church organization. Then Chiara Lubich asked him to help Archbishop Giovanni Cheli, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations (UN) in New York, who returned to Rome in 1986 to head the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, absorbed in 2017 by the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development. Cardinal Cheli was looking for someone who could help him and who spoke English fluently.
It is worth remembering that Archbishop Cheli was a protagonist in the diplomacy of Pope John Paul II, alongside Cardinals Agostino Casaroli, Renato Martino, Luigi Poggi and Achille Silvestrini, in the behind-the-scenes work to gain space and protect Catholics in communist countries during the Cold War.
Among the examples illustrating the role played by Cheli, we can cite his visit, at the end of 1968, to the Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop Iuliu Hossu, imprisoned by the communists after they had banned the Church he led, in order to offer him the possibility of leaving the country, with the agreement of the government, and to be created cardinal. As Hossu did not want to give up his ten-year fight to legalize his outlaw Church, Pope Paul VI named him cardinal in pectore. Cheli had more success in Hungary in 1971 when he brought back to Rome, on behalf of the Holy See (in collaboration with the United States government for the implementation of the Helsinki Accords), Cardinal Archbishop József Mindszenty, thus ending the “Mindszenty Question”. Subsequently, he established himself as the Holy See’s most fervent critic against the American invasion of Iraq.
Nilda Castro’s collaboration proved particularly useful to the diplomat, particularly because of her skills in mathematics and computing: one of Cheli’s goals was to introduce the technology he used in New York to the Vatican. After updating her skills, she helped the Pontifical Dicastery strengthen its IT systems. She worked with Cheli until his retirement in 1998, a few months after his appointment as cardinal.
“Cardinal Cheli’s apartment was very close to our office and he often invited us to lunch: he was a very kind and cordial person! », Nilda Castro remembers today.
She later collaborated with three other cardinals: Stephen Hamao (who taught Latin to the Japanese prince and future emperor Akihito), Renato Martino and Antonio Vegliò, under whose leadership she assumed a leading role in the section of the Pontifical Council responsible for airports and air travel. It was not uncommon for Ms. Castro to represent the Vatican at intergovernmental meetings convened by the United Nations.
In 2013, “I was asked to return to the Philippines because the Focolare Movement needed help” as part of the coordination center for an area that included Manila. At this time, Castro was particularly concerned with questions relating to the spiritual formation of the different branches of the Focolare.
Although she had reached retirement age, two successive nuncios in Manila asked Castro to continue her service at the Nunciature: she collaborated with Archbishops Giuseppe Pinto and Gabriele Caccia (current permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN) in managing the work, meetings and communications of the nunciature.
What did she help achieve? “I don’t talk about these things,” she said with a shrug, admitting that her familiarity with Roman processes and procedures was appreciated by the nuncios.
Since Archbishop Caccia moved to New York in 2019, Castro has devoted herself 100% to the Focolare movement, living in Mariapoli Pace, a “small town dedicated to love” where more than 100 people reside: 5 communities of women, 3 of men, young adults, priests and seminarians and families.
« Chiara [Lubich] had in his heart a desire to create something that testified to what a society would look like if everyone simply lived the Gospel. Her vision was that of a city where the only law would be love,” explains Nilda Castro. She continues: “Jesus is present among us. So anyone who comes to Mariapolis Pace should feel its presence and know that the people who live there love each other.”
Interreligious dialogue
Chiara Lubich became friends with Nikkyo Niwano, founder of the Japanese Buddhist movement Rissho Kosei-Kai. Both received the Templeton Prize for their insights into religion. When he invited her to Tokyo, she took the opportunity to visit Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines where, according to Castro, she shared his impression that Christians should do more to learn about Asian religions.
Chiara Lubich thus founded a school devoted to Buddhism and Shintoism. Today, this school is a training center that teaches and prepares its members for interreligious dialogue.
The Little Cities of Love, the Mariapolis Focolare Centers, continue to exist in three locations: outside Manila (Mariapolis Pace), on the outskirts of Nairobi (Mariapolis Piero), and in Ivory Coast (Mariapolis Victoria).
“Transnational” journeys
Nilda Castro’s journey is quite unique, but it is not uncommon to hear other fascinating stories of mission that, for example, took a Focolarine nursing graduate, Triphonie Barumwete, from Burundi to Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy and Kenya over the past 30 years.
Or to meet a focolarino born in Cameroon, Marcellus Nkafu Nkeze, whose formation began in Italy and then took him to Switzerland, where he was a spiritual instructor; in South Sudan and Kenya, where he managed humanitarian aid; in Burundi, where he helped AIDS patients; then again to Cameroon, where he coordinated Focolare activities in Central Africa, while managing a famous religious bookstore in Douala.
As they move from one mission to another, consecrated Focolare members remain faithful to their commitment to fulfilling the words of Jesus: “That all may be one” (John 17:21). Unity and dialogue have been at the heart of Focolare’s raison d’être, ever since Chiara Lubich founded this secular movement during World War II in Trento, Italy. (It took several years in the 1950s for the Holy See to decide that the movement was not heretical, as depicted in the film “Love Conquers All.” It took another ten years to gain full approval, ultimately granted by Pope Paul VI).
Members cross borders to found, cultivate and fertilize communities, and move between different worlds, between jobs that require extremely diverse skills.
*Victor Gaetan is a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Register covering international affairs. He also writes for Foreign Affairs magazine and has contributed to Catholic News Service. He is the author of the book God’s Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America’s Armageddon (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) reissued in paperback in July 2023. His website is VictorGaetan.org.
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