On 1, 2 and 3 June, the Minister General, Br Massimo Fusarelli, went to Bonn, Germany, for a series of meetings at the new headquarters of MZF (Missionszentrale der Franziskaner). Also present were Br Giovanni Rinaldi and Br Franco Mirri (on behalf of the OFM Fraternitas Foundation), Br Efren, Br Baptist and Mr Gennaro Marseglia (on behalf of the OFM General Curia Development Office). Br Matthias Meier, President of MZF, welcomed the Minister and organised the planned meetings with the numerous staff. On 1 June, the Minister General met the Secretaries of Evangelisation of the OFM Transalpine Conference (COTAF). On this important occasion, the Minister General emphasised that: "Franciscans live their mission of evangelisation by being among and with the people, and thus bearing witness to the Franciscan spirit". On 2 June, the inauguration ceremony of the new MZF headquarters was held at the cathedral of Bonn, with the blessing of the San Damiano Crucifix with the welcoming speech of the Minister Provincial of Germany, Br Cornelius Bohl. Also speaking at this celebration was the Minister General, who emphasised that: "We can initiate new forms of collaboration for evangelisation in a secularised context such as Northern Europe, open, however, to international participation, they can become a workshop for a new way of evangelising. The visit to Bonn ended on 3 June with the "OFM Fundraising Partners meeting" held annually. The meeting is attended by the leaders of Franziskaner Helfen (MZF-Bonn), OFM Fraternitas Foundation (General Curia-Rome) and the General Secretariat for Franciscan Missions in Waterford (GSFM-USA), in the person of Br Andy Brophy. The Minister General actively participated in the discussion and noted: "The partnership helps us grow in becoming more and more one body. We are a family that together takes charge of the development of the Order in the lands in the places of the world where we are growing and also of a spirit of greater co-responsibility so that the projects are not individual persons or entities but become more and more a common heritage." The three full days of the visit were a new opportunity to strengthen the knowledge and collaboration between the Provinces of the Franciscan Transalpine Conference and the General Government of the Order at the level of solidarity toward the many requests coming from the various entities of the Franciscan world. The topics discussed also opened new perspectives to the many challenges that we are living and that await us in the future, such as the Minister General stressed: "learning a culture of solidarity and sharing of economic resources, seeking ways clearly always attentive to the ethical discourse and the Franciscan charism, studying a new way of doing fraternal economy".
