From the 21st-25th April 2025, the friars of the Custody of the Protomartyrs of the Order in Morocco gathered to celebrate their Chapter.
Currently, the Custody of the Protomartyrs is part of the Conference of North Africa and the Middle East (CONAMO), recently created by the Order on the 17th March of this year. The Chapter officially began on the morning of the 21st with the Opening Mass at Our Lady of Peace Reception House in Rabat presided over by the Visitor General Br. Ignacio Ceja Jiménez OFM, Vicar General of the Order.
Once in the Chapter Hall, after invoking the Holy Spirit by praying the Sequence of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the initial formalities, the Chapter entered into the matter with the reading of the Letter of the Minister General of the Order Br. Massimo Fusarelli, the presentation of the report of the Custos, the report of the Visitor and of the various heads of the different areas and working groups of the Custody. Without a doubt, one of the most significant moments at the beginning of the Chapter was the reading of the Letter of the Minister General.
In the following days, taking into account the program of the Chapter, a space for dialogue and debate was opened amongst the friars through working groups to discern the path of the Custody around topics such as service to the Church in Morocco, the Franciscan presence amongst Muslims, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, the service of charity and others. They were poewrful moments of fraternity, full of exchange, welcome, clarity in some tensions and commitments to the future.
The elections were held on the morning of the 23rd April, in an atmosphere of prayer and recollection, the friars at the Chapter elected as the new Custos Br. Luis Alcántara Ramírez, of the Province of the Holy Gospel of Mexico, Br. Stéphane Delavelle as Vicar of the Custody and Br. Natale Fiumanó, Br. Simeón Stachera and Br. Jean de Dieu Bazibuhe Musaka as Councilors of the Custody.
The chapter sessions have been alternating with crowded liturgical celebrations and moments of fraternity, elements that have fostered an atmosphere of prayer and communion. The following days will be dedicated to discernment and decision-making to give a renewed impetus to the life and mission of the Custody.
Let us pray for our chosen brothers and for their new ministry at the service of the Order and the fraternity!
