How this may be done is formulated in some concrete proposals: to conserve the spirit of prayer and devotion, to maintain and develop the "spirit of Assisi", to give primacy once more to the Spirit, to promote the spirit of unity, to be in the forefront of the striving for peace.

We are committed to lift our voices to support the condonation of the debt of the countries of the Third World as restitution for the enormous socio-economic and moral debt accumulated by the industrialized countries. We ask that there be banished every form of work in which human dignity is not respected, and we oppose the idea of children forced to work."

* The Secretary-General took part on 30 October in the official opening of the academic year in the Study Centre of St. Bernardine's, Verona (Italy), by giving a paper on "Studies and our Vocation as Friars Minor".

* From 20 to 22 November the Secretary-General directed some days of ongoing formation for the friars of the Province of Palermo (Sicily) on the theme "Ongoing Formation: a demand of faithfulness to our vocation".

* From 27 to 29 November there was a meeting in the General Curia of the Executive Committee for Formation, made up of the three friars of the General Secretariate together with three friars representing the Conferences, Brs. Benoît Amoussou (Africa), Martín Harun (Indonesia) and Daniel McLellan (USA).

* From 1 to 5 December Br. Carballo directed a week of Provincial animation in the Vice-Province of Egypt. The topics were: formation and studies; the document of the 1997 Chapter.

* From 30 October to 3 December there took place in Ain Karem the first "Holy Land Sabbatical Period" in the English language. Previous courses had been held in Spanish, Italian, Polish and Portuguese. These periods are organized by the General Secretariate for Formation and Studies.

* The death occurred on 20 November 1997 of Msgr. Br. Ambrose Papaiah Yeddanapalli, Bishop of Bellary (India) from December 1963 until he retired in October 1992. He was born on 20 August 1914.

* The Osservatore Romano of 19.11.97 dedicated an entire page to St. Agnes of Assisi whose eighth centenary of birth occurs this year.

* There are in Italy 174 monasteries of Poor Clares, of which 113 with the Rule of Clare, 29 with the Urban Rule, 32 of Capuchin observance. In the whole world the number of monasteries is around 943, of which 620 in Europe, 216 in the three Americas, 64 in Asia, 37 in Africa and 6 in Oceania.

* Msgr. Br. Fernando A. Figueiredo, Bishop of Santa Amaro (Brazil), was nominated a member of the Commission for the Final Message of the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops.

* The magazine Hermano Francisco of the Spanish Franciscan Family (Plaza San Lorenzo 2-B / 46003 Valencia, Spain) has reached its one hundredth number and received the good wishes of the Ministers General. The magazine is a continuation of "Acción Antoniana" founded in 1921. It changed its name and contents in 1977. From then on until the present its editor is Br. José-Gabriel Francés Domínguez.

* The Spanish-Portuguese Conference's Secretariate for Formation and Studies held its sixth course for formators beginning on 6 November, dedicated this year to "Key-Concepts in Formational Dialogue". The course was held in Madrid.

* The next meeting of the Union of Latin-American Franciscan Conferences (UCLAF) will be held in Guatemala City (Guatemala) from 20 to 25 April. Principal topic: the documents "To Fill the Earth" and "From Memory to Prophecy".

* The Chapel of the Sorrowful Virgin of the Friary of St. Francis in Cajamarca (Peru) was raised to the dignity of a Diocesan Sanctuary on 4 October 1997. The Franciscans have been present in Cajamarca from the first years of the city's foundation. On the same day the civil authorities conferred on the Sorrowful Virgin the "Medal of the City", invoking her as the "Queen and Patron of Cajamarca".

* On 15.7.97 two sculptures by Br. Francesco Gaballo (Province of Lecce, Italy), each two metres high, were unveiled. They represent St. Giles of Taranto and the Servant of God Br. Giuseppe Ghezzi, and adorn the facade of the Church of the Holy Child in Massafra. Br. Gaballo is 85 years old.

The Convento has been declared unusable for more than half its extent: two corridors of the cloister square with the friars' rooms situated there, and the greater and lesser refectories beneath, damaged in their load-bearing arches. For this reason the friars have been forced to leave the friary, making do with provisional accommodation.

The Porziuncola - The little church of the Porziuncola situated in the middle of the great basilica has not suffered any damage by the earthquake. The altar-piece, the work of the Priest Hilary in 1393 depicting the granting of the Indulgence of the Pardon, has been removed for restoration.

The Chapel of the Transitus, which encloses the "terra nuda" on which Francis desired to die, is also intact. Only the statue of Saint Francis by Andrea della Robbia normally placed in the niche behind the little altar has been removed for safe keeping.

The large statue of the Madonna (7 metres or 23 feet high) normally found at the top of the Basilica's facade was lowered on 7 December and provisionally placed at its side. It is hoped that it will be returned to its rightful place once restoration work is complete.

Re-opening - For the moment there are no definite dates for the beginning of the restoration work. An examination and analysis of the extent of the damage and a drawing up of plans for the work to be done are still in progress. Any speculation about the re-opening of the Basilica is quite premature, if only because to date the tremors have still not entirely ceased. On 7 December a great tent capable of holding up to a thousand people was inaugurated on the piazza in front of the Basilica for liturgical celebrations on Sundays and Feast-days. In the meantime both friars and faithful have spontaneously taken to meeting for the recitation of the Rosary on the piazza every evening at 9 p.m., their eyes fixed on the Porziuncola which can be glimpsed through the open doorway of the Basilica. On 7 December the Minister General, Br. Giacomo Bini, presided in the great tent over a prayer vigil for the opening of the Year of the Holy Spirit.

1. A policy of sharing, co-responsibility, communion, within the Definitorium itself, where authority is understood as the exercise of the charism of togetherness rather than the togetherness of charisms.

2. A policy of animation: to restore "animus", confidence, hope, love for one's own vocation. To be present and to animate the different cultural areas, Conferences, Provinces. Whenever possible to carry out this service of animation in two or three, or even by all the members of the Definitorium. Asking for the help of other confreres, especially the Presidents of Conferences, Ministers Provincial, Visitators, components of Commissions, and others. This is a long process and full of risks, but we are setting out on it in a spirit of trust and abandonment to the Spirit who guides us.

3. A culture of collaboration, sharing and solidarity, at the level of persons, structures, formation and mission projects, so that the consciousness of belonging to an international Fraternity may be reinforced.

4. We ourselves, as a Definitorium, commit ourselves to this way of fraternity, keeping in mind the priorities in their hierarchical order which we propose to all the friars.

The priorities in their hierarchical order which emerge with clear evidence from the capitular documents are: 1. the spirit of prayer and devotion: contemplative life; 2. communion of life: the Fraternity; 3. life in minority and poverty - solidarity; 4. evangelization - mission. There is then a fifth priority which is demanded by and is a condition of our faithfulness to our own vocation: formation, which is involved by and is related to the four priorities listed.

(To the General Visitators, November 1997)

* The Holy Father has named Apostolic Nuncio in Sudan and Apostolic Delegate in Somalia Br. Marco Dino Brogi, Tuscan Province, up to now Under-Secretary in the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, raising him at the same time to the titular archdiocesan see of Città Ducale. His episcopal ordination was conferred on him by the Pope in person in St. Peter's on the Feast of the Epiphany.

* The Holy Father on 7.12.97 named Br. Antonio Costa Domingues de Souza, professor at the Antonianum and the Urbanianum, to be a Judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Vatican City.