On the roads, like Francis” “

“Reviving the practice of solidarity and combating every form of violence and fundamentalism”: that’s how the Minister General of the Friars Minor, Father José Rodriguez Carballo (50 years ago, Spanish), sums up the reflection on the Order’s mission conducted by the general Chapter, which ended at Assisi in recent days. The particular role that Europe has to play in this mission emerged from the discussions, given the fact that there are now 3,000 Friars Minor in the countries of eastern Europe, out of the total 8,000 in the continent and 16,000 of the Order as a whole. There are also 18 bishops from the ranks of the Order in Europe: six of them in the Churches of eastern Europe (Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Albania) and twelve in those of the West. If the histories of the persecutions suffered in the various countries of eastern Europe are “similar”, the challenges that need to be tackled in these countries can be summed up as “a social situation in which we have no defence against materialism, existential desolation and religious vacuum”. “We need to reconstruct Christian values”, explains Father Jakab Varnai, Hungarian, member of the new ruling council of the Order, “and in my own country this is happening with the opening of new schools, in the attempt to give young people a Christian formation”. Father Antonio Franjic, Vicar General, emphasizes that the European situation is undoubtedly complex and that though the “Old Continent still donates missionaries to all continents, the prospects for the future are conditioned by the problems posed by the ageing of the population and falling vocations”. Meeting in Brussels For his part, Father Giacomo Bini, who has just left the post of Minister General, points out that one of the roads that needs to be pursued in Europe today is that of the international fraternities, such as that opened in Brussels in recent days, where friars from various counties may prepare themselves for the multinational and intercultural dimension of mission. But especially – he adds – “we must rediscover the itinerant dimension of our charism”. The Order’s close involvement in the local and universal Church has by now been achieved, as demonstrated, for example, by the recent appointment of a Franciscan Provincial, Father Franz Lackner, as auxiliary bishop of Graz (Austria), or the many parishes entrusted to Friars Minor in various countries”. At the side of the people. In the view of Father Franjic, we are witnessing a revival in the countries of eastern Europe, despite many difficulties. The “Project of Independent States”, in the nations born from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has led to the presence of the Friars Minor in Siberia, in Kazakhstan, in Estonia, at St. Petersburg in Russia. In the Ukraine there are various missions, and a fraternity of Greek-Catholic rite has existed in the diocese of Ternopil for the last ten years. Lithuania is once again discovering Franciscanism. And the present situation in the Balkans is very promising. There are now 50 friars in Albania: “there were 90 on the advent of Communism, reduced to 11 at the end of the regime”. In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, “the six Provinces, comprising a total of 1406 friars, suffered the destruction of many houses and churches in the terrible war – explains Father Franjic –. But the friars remained at the people’s side, not abandoning them in exile, in hunger and in privation. Two friars were killed and several suffered deportation, violence and injury”. But now we are looking with greater hope to the future, because “slowly the fabric of life is being reconstructed, with a commitment to reconciliation that is not always easy”. Five directions. Altogether, however, the situation in Europe “is very complex and bears within it signs both of life and of profound crisis”, not least because “people are increasingly distancing themselves from the faith they profess”. That is why, adds Father Varnai, “it’s important to aim in five directions: “links between dioceses, parishes, communities” and especially “youth and witnesses of solidarity”.