From the 19th to 22nd November 2025, the OFM General Curia hosted the meeting between the General Definitory and the Presidents of the Conferences of the Order. A moment of grace and discernment in which the friars spoke of co-responsibility with the laity in the light of the experience of the Chapter of Mats, the processes of transformation of decreasing Entities, the presentation of the Final Document of the PCO 2025, the fraternal economy and the approval of the 2026 Budget. A synodal journey that alternated moments of reflection, dialogue in language groups, Eucharistic celebrations and the pilgrimage to the Holy Door on the occasion of the Jubilee.
The Minister General, Br. Massimo Fusarelli, opened the work by emphasising the importance of collaboration with the laity. "It is essential to move from simple collaboration to real co-responsibility, starting with the members of the Franciscan Family," he said, recalling the magisterium of Pope Francis: "By virtue of the Baptism received, every member of the People of God has become a missionary disciple." Br. Massimo invited the Conferences to overcome all forms of clericalism: "The Franciscan charism belongs not only to the friars, but to the whole Franciscan Family. The Franciscan future is built together with the laity, not without them."
In the evening Eucharistic celebration, Br. Gabriel Romero Alamilla invited the friars to "invest with hope in our lives" and made the invitation to proclaim the Gospel with creative capacity: "In this meeting of the Presidents of the Conferences of the Franciscan Order, the Lord calls us to proclaim the Gospel with creative capacity, to be sensitive to the signs of the times. We know that the task is immense and that the path is not easy, but we are equally convinced that we can do everything in the One who gives us strength.
The following day, after the presentation of the Final Document of the PCO, the Minister General opened the dialogue in groups by inviting them to speak on the theme of the numerical decrease of many Entities. "Talking about degrowth does not mean announcing the end, but discerning the signs of the times to respond with creative fidelity to the Lord's call," he said, proposing a paradigm shift: "Not jealously guarding what was, but courageously building what will be." Br. Massimo presented the proposals of the 2025 Plenary Council, including the lightening of Provincial structures and new, more agile organizational models: "The law serves life, not the other way around." In the afternoon, Br. Reu Galoy, OFM, presented the work of the Commission on the Fraternal Economy.
On Friday, the participants made the pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, on the occasion of the Jubilee. In the evening Eucharistic celebration, the memorial of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, Br. Francesco Piloni, OFM, meditated on the total gift of self as a response to the divine call: "We are called to be a Temple. Imitating Mary, we are exhorted to prepare ourselves, to make our lives a welcoming dwelling place for Christ who comes."
On the last day, the 2026 Budget was approved. In his closing homily, Br. Massimo urged the Presidents as follows: "We are called to discern where God's life pulsates today in our Order, and there invest our energies, our courage, our creativity. God is not of the dead, but of the living."
The meeting laid the foundations for a synodal journey towards the 2027 General Chapter, which the Minister General defined as "not only an assembly of friars who decide for the friars, but a moment of the Franciscan Family that discerns the future together, in fidelity to the Gospel and to St Francis".
The meeting was attended by the following Presidents:
Br. Fernando Aparecido dos Santos (Conf. Brazil - Southern Cone)
Br. Jozo Grbeš (SLAS – South Slavic Conf.)
Br. Evódio João (ESAC – Conf. of Anglophone Africa)
Br. Nicodème (Bakimani) Kolani (CAF – Conf. Africa Francofona)
Br. Aidan McGrath (ESC – Anglophone Conference)
Br. Francesco Piloni (CEM – Southern Europe Conf.)
Br. Gabriel Alfredo Romero Alamilla (Conf. of Guadalupe – Central America, Caribbean and Mexico)
Br. Witosław J. Sztyk (SLAN – Conf. Nord Slavica)
Br. Lino Gregorio Velasquez Redoblado (EAC – Conf. East Asia)
Br. Friedrich Wenigwieser (COTAF – Conf. Transalpina)
Br. Derrick Yap (SAAOC – South Asia, Australia and Oceania)
Br. Luis Alcántara Ramírez (Vice-President of CONAMO – Conf. North Africa and the Middle East)
Br. Ernesto Chambi Cruz (Vice President of the Bolivarian Conf.)
See the photos on Flickr
