VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI in Assisi - “Every Friar must be an authentic contemplative, with his eyes set on the eyes of Christ. Like Francis with the leper, he must see the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters who suffer, and offer to all the announcement of peace.”

Assisi (Agenzia Fides) - In the afternoon of Sunday June 17 during his day's visit to Assisi, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI paid a visit to the community of German Poor Clare Sisters at Holy Cross Convent in Assisi. Then inside the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis, the Pope met participants at the General Chapter of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conventual and with the community of the Sacred Friary. The Pope handed the Friars a message, giving them the task to "bear witness with vigour and consistency” to the message of Saint Francis: “You are called to do this with that same ecclesial communion which marked Francis in his relationship with the Vicar of Christ and with all the bishops of the Church ”.
After recalling that the 199th General Chapter of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor was being held in the context of the 8th centenary of the conversion of Francis, and event to which “we must return again and again in order to understand Francis and his message”, the Holy Father said: “I hope that while thanking God for the growth of the Order especially in mission territories, the Chapter members will take the opportunity to discern what the Spirit is asking of them, in order to continue to announce with passion, following in the footsteps of the seraphic Father, the Kingdom of God in these early years of the third Christian millennium”.
The Chapter's central theme for reflection was formation for mission and Pope said in his message: “This is a path with many dimensions, but which is centred on the ability to let oneself be shaped by the Spirit, in order to be ready to go wherever He calls. The basis can only be listening to the Word in a climate of intense and continual prayer. Only on this condition can we grasp the real needs of the men and women of our day and offer them answers drawn from the wisdom of God, announcing what we have experienced profoundly in our own lives”.
The message continues: “ Each Friar must be an authentic contemplative, with his eyes set on the eyes of Christ. Like Francis with the leper, he must see the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters who suffer and offer to all the announcement of peace… the Poverello understood himself entirely in the light of the Gospel: hence the unchanging value of his testimony. His "prophecy " teaches us to make the Gospel the criterion for facing the challenges of every epoch, including our own, for resisting the deceptive attraction of passing modes. We must root ourselves in the plan of God and discern in this way the real needs of man”.
In the last part of his Message, the Holy Father recalled that "Conventual Friars Minor must be "announcers of Christ: they must approach people with meekness and confidence, in an attitude of dialogue, always bearing ardent witness to the one Saviour. They must be witnesses to the ‘beauty’ of God of which Francis sang as he contemplated the wonders of creation ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 18/6/2007; righe 34, parole 477)