Africa continues to call us

From 7 to the morning of 15 June 2026, the Minister General, Br Massimo Fusarelli, accompanied by the General Definitor for Africa, Br Siphelele Gwanisheni, and by the General Definitor for the Slavic Conferences, Br Konrad Cholewa, visited two of the Order’s young communities in the Central African Republic and in Cameroon.

Central African Republic

Bangui, CAR capital city, is home to the “St Mary of the Angels” Foundation, together with its formation House for postulants. The friars’ presence in this country began in a more structured way in 1991, with the arrival of friars from the Province of the Assumption (Poland); today the Foundation depends on the Province of St Benedict the African, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It numbers twelve solemnly professed friars, seven in temporary profession, six postulants and at least seventeen aspirants preparing to begin the path of formation. The friars live and work in four fraternities around the capital, devoted above all to pastoral care and to works of social development, in a very poor country that has no road network and is scarred by the violence of armed rebel groups.

During a day of assembly, the Minister General and the brothers accompanying him were able to meet all the solemnly professed friars, to look together at the present and the prospects of the Foundation. This is the desire of this small community: to share ever more fully in the life of the Order and in its presence in Africa. The meeting with the postulants made it possible to take the pulse of the young Africans who are drawn to our way of life today. He received the renewal of temporary vows of one of the brothers. The meeting with the Archbishop of Bangui, Cardinal Dieudonne, opened for the friars the horizons of the country and of the local Church, in which they are well integrated.

A long journey by car brought the delegation to Bouar, where for sixty-five years a monastery of Poor Clares has kept watch — a small sign of contemplative life in a land that has great need of it. While male vocations are not lacking, female ones are far rarer; and yet the sisters hold fast to a steadfast hope and seek out new forms of collaboration. This small but growing community in the CAR lets one sense all the beauty — and the struggle — of the passage from the work of missionaries to that of local friars: the roots that the Franciscan charism is called to put down in new cultures, and the relationships with society and with the local Churches, which always call for great care if the presence is to be prophetic and a sign of communion.

Cameroon

Since 2013, a few missionaries from the Province of St Mary of the Angels (Kraków, Poland), on which the House depends, have been present in Cameroon. Having arrived in Yaoundé, the delegation travelled on by car to Abong-Mbang, where the small fraternity is found: three solemnly professed friars, two in temporary profession and two aspirants preparing for the postulancy; two further temporarily professed friars reside in Kolwesi (RDC) for their studies in philosophy.

The friars care for a parish and a small shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima; they are part of the life of the diocese and of the coordination of religious, and they also serve four very simple and poor villages, which the delegation was able to visit, savoring the truly generous welcome and hospitality of these people. A Marian celebration of the Sunday Eucharist with the parish community drew everyone into the joyful and communal experience of faith that marks these Churches of Africa. The Provincial Minister of Kraków, Br Krzysztof Bobak, and the Secretary for the mission of evangelization, Br. Nikodem Gdyk, also took part in the visit: together it was possible to look ahead to the prospects of this community, which promises healthy growth.

Opening to the Order and to the Franciscan Conference of French-speaking Africa is an important step in clarifying the nature of this presence and its relationship with the local Church, beyond the immediate service of parish ministry.

A frontier for the whole Order

Between the larger and growing Provinces and Custodies and these small communities, which are beginning the implantatio Ordinis, our presence in Africa is growing and calls for the attention and care of the whole Order, including the sending of new personnel. It stands out as one of the principal frontiers where the Order is and will be present, and where it will continue to grow. For this reason, Africa keeps calling us and challenges us to respond.