On January 7, 2022, Pope Francis received in audience, in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, Father Massimo Fusarelli.

As reported on the official page of the Ordo Fratrum Minorum (Order of Friars Minor), the Minister was accompanied by members of the General Chapter, the General Procurator, the Secretary for Evangelization, and the Missions, the Order’s Secretary-General, and the Minister’s personal Secretary.

The Pope’s Tenderness

 According to the note, at the end of the audience, which lasted some 45 minutes, the Minister said it “was an intense and lovely moment of dialogue, to listen to Pope Francis on the reality of the Order in different parts of the world and in some particular situations that affect the Church.”

“In a particular way, the Holy Father invited us to work with courage among young people, in keeping with their language and in favor of vocations, in order not to resign ourselves and to be able to look at our future with confidence and faith,” said the Minister.

Friar Fusarelli also shared his for having seen the Pope’s tenderness up close. “We thanked God for this meeting, because we saw the Pope’s affection for us Franciscans of the world and because he repeated several times that Saint Francis is a seducer in the good sense of the word because he attracts and motivates.” Finally, the Supreme Pontiff invited the Brothers to “live in an evangelical way, and to work knowing that they have this great root of inspiration and attraction.”

According to the same source, the meeting ended with the sharing of memories and a brief visit to the interior of the Apostolic Palace.

Order of Friars Minor

 As stated on the Webpage, the Order, founded by Saint Francis of Assisi, is a Fraternity. The Brothers, “taking to greater fulness their baptismal consecration and responding to the divine call, give themselves totally to God supremely loved, through the profession of obedience, poverty, and chastity, which they live according to the spirit of Saint Francis.”

The whole Fraternity is missionary and takes part in the Church’s mission, in keeping with the example of Saint Francis and his will expressed in the Rule. Each Brother, conscious of his responsibility, assumes the part that corresponds to him in the missionary endeavor.

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester