L'Arche
Through his family, and in the course of the military and diplomatic career of his father, Georges Vanier, Jean came to know many of the most important people in this world: Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill, Cardinal Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII) were friends of the family, brought closer together by the circumstances of World War II.
This war marked Jean Vanier profoundly. He would one day visit Hiroshima in order to reflect on it. In addition he would be influenced, all his life, by those great men of peace, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
In Brazil, Jean Vanier would encounter Jean Goss and Hildegard Mayr, two remarkable people who were leaders of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. They introduced him to Dom Helder Camara, Bishop of Recife in northeastern Brazil, one of the poorest regions of the world. Wholly committed to the poorest of the poor, Camara was an outspoken critic of the ruling Brazilian dictatorship and a leading light in the struggle to defend human rights. Jean invited him to visit the community in Trosly.
Later, thanks again to Hildegard Mayr, on several occasions Jean Vanier met Adolfo Perez Esquivel. Following their first meeting at the Canadian embassy, Esquivel was kidnapped by the Dops movement, sadly known for their brutality and tortures. Esquivel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980. The couple would also play a key role in the events leading up to the 1986 revolution in the Philippines. During a visit there that year, Jean met Cory Aquino who, in the wake of the non-violent revolution of the people and the neutral stance taken by the armed forces, became president of the Philippines.
Jean was also close to Mother Teresa. After visiting many time in India, Mother Teresa acceted his invitation to the L'Arche Trosly where he lives.
In France, Jean has been received at the Elysee palace by President Chirac. Canadian Prime Ministers Pierre-Elliott Trudeau and Brian Mulroney both came to Trosly to meet him.
Jean Vanier also had a number of personal meetings with Pope John Paul II, who was particularly impressed by his work.
