The Office of Communications is preparing the II Encounter of Franciscan Editors of Books, which will be held in Milan, at the Franciscan Library, from the October12th to 15th. For more information and eventual participation please contact Friar Clarêncio Neotti, Office of Communications, at the General Curia.

April 17, the General Minister, Friar Giacomo Bini, inaugurated the Franciscan Center for Study "Cardinal Landázuri", in Lima. The Center, temporarily housed in the Retreat House "San Francisco Solano", will welcome students of Philosophy and Theology for the four OFM Entities of Peru, and is also open to other students from the Franciscan Family. Besides the General Definitors, Friar Gerardo Moore and Friar José Rodríguez Carballo, two bishops, numerous friars and Franciscan Religious were present at the inauguration. "The goal of the Center - according to the President of the Bolivarian Conference, Friar Guido Zegarra - is to give our young a good academic formation, an excellent Franciscan formation and a great interest in Peruvian culture so that they may live the specific nature of Franciscanism united in diversity, with a heart that is open to everyone".

Stimulated by the "Letter of Assisi" of the Franciscan Conference regarding the Dialogue with Islam (1982), the Commission of Justice and Peace of the Province of Cologne, has begun dialogue with Muslims in Germany. Most of them (two million) come from Turkey. Since they suffer much discrimination, the Friars have established friendly relations with them, visited their Mosques and invited them to gatherings in their Franciscan Houses. Every year they organize Prayer Services with Jews and Muslims in order to remember the great 1986 gathering of Religions in Assisi. During the war in Bosnia they were able to gather many times the Bosnian Muslims, Croatian Catholics and Serbian Orthodox in order to pray together. From this prayer came the inter-religious group "Zajedno pomocizajedno moliti" (help together-pray together) with humanitarian ends. The group has come to Rome for the second time and has been housed by the General Curia. On May 17th they met with the Vicar General, Friar Stefano Ottenbreit, who has spoken to them about the Order and the Spirit of Ecumenism. This year the President of the Christian-Islamic Society of Germany, Bashir Dultz came with them.

On Saturday, May 9th, the Pope held an audience with 7000 members of the Italian Franciscan Youth Movement on the occasione of the 50th anniversary of their foundation.
The Pope assured that "the YuFra represents a brilliant ideal of life" and that "Francis and Clare are extraordinarily attractive in our own age".
John Paul affirmed that Franciscan Youth is primarily a vocation to grow in brother/sisterhood: "The central element of your Franciscan identity is the presence of a brother/sister to welcome, listen, forgive and love: in his/her face you, like Francis, should recognize that of Christ, especially when it comes to the least and the marginalized".

29 April - 9 May: The General Minister, Friar Giacomo Bini, accompanied by the Definitor, Friar Gerard Moore, visited the brothers in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba (Custody dependent on the Province of Cantabria, Spain) and Haiti (mission of the Central American Province). There are three communities in Puerto Rico (13 solemnly professed and 3 simply professed). There are two communities in the Dominican Republic (10 solemnly professed, 1 simply professed, 2 novices and 6 postulants). In Haiti there is one community (3 solemnly professed and 4 simply professed). There are four communities in Cuba (16 solemnly professed, 2 simply professed and 6 postulants). Cuba is waiting for reinforcements, since it is even less difficult for religious to get a Visa, after the visit of the Pope.

From April 15-19 the General Minister, Friar Giacomo Bini, accompanied by General Definitors, Friar Gerardo Moore and Friar José Rodríguez Carballo, visited the Friars of Peru. In Lima they met with the Definitors of the four Entities and then with the formators and the formandi. The Minister has recommended collaboration and solidarity amongst the four Entities. The morning of April 16 the Minister accepted the renewal of vows for 25 Friars in formation for the Province of the 12 Apostles. On April 18, he presided over the Eucharist of thanksgiving for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Custody of the Most Holy Name of Nome of Jesus, initiated in 1948 by the Friars of the Sicilian Province. During the celebration of lauds, Friar Giacomo accepted the renewal of vows of 11 temporarily professed for the Custody. In the afternoon the General Minister went to the Monastery of Saint Clare in order to meet 82 Poor Clares, Conceptionist and Capuchin Poor Clares.

The Province Saint Steven the King in Transilvania (Romania) has organized a Day of Study for the Friars doing pastoral ministry. Mons. Tamás József, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Alba Iulia, gave a presentation on priestly life. The 13 Friars present questioned him on practical matters. In the afternoon the Friars continued to discuss present day challenges. The consequence of many years under Communism can still be felt, and, among other things, make the creation of Franciscan style brotherhood difficult. The Friars have many commitments, they work in the parishes, often by themselves; ties with the rest of the Province run the risk of weakening. In the Encounter the Friars took up a consideration of this situation and considered that there are good possibilities for improvement: the fraternal Encounters for shared study of a theme and in order to share their concerns and pastoral projects reinforce the ties that unite them, with the Province and with the Order. With the same goal in mind, the Friars have decided to gather, in pilgrimage to Italy in order to visit the Franciscan Places.

With the goal of animating the putting into practice of the formation documents of the Order and to undertake a profound reflection regarding the formation and study of the Order, the General Secretary of formation and studies:

* 30 - 31 January: visited the Franciscan Theological Institute of Murcia, Spain; he met with the Formators and the young men in formation for the Provinces of Murcia and Castiglia.

* 9 - 21 March: visited the Houses of Formation of the Provinces of Mexico; and had a three-day encounter with the Ministers and Formators of the Conference of Santa Maria de Guadalupe (Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean).

* 23 - 27 March: visited the Houses of Formation and Study of the Province of the Immaculate Conception in Brazil (Rondinha and Petrópolis).

* 13 -14 April: participated in the Week of Inter-Provincial Formation of the CONFRES (Spanish Conference), giving a report on Franciscan Formation.

* 16 - 20 April: in Lima he met with the Provincial Ministers, Formators and Students in formation for the Franciscan Entities in Peru.

* 20 - 25 April: participated in the XV Assembly of the Union of the Franciscan Conference of Latin America (UCLAF) in Guatemala City and visited the Houses of Formation of the Province of Central America.

St. Bonaventure College is an inter-Franciscan center of formation and studies in Lusaka, Zambia. The three Provincial Ministers of the First Order officially opened the College in 1992. This initiative is the first attempt at an international and inter-Franciscan center of formation and studies in Africa. The college has only one campus. Each of the three Franciscan Families has it's own community, situated in a building capable of housing 50 students. There are four classrooms, a large hall and administrative offices. The Library with circa 40.000 books is of great value. Most of these books have been provided by the Province of St. John the Baptist (Cincinnati) and by the Capuchin Province of New York. From the onset, the number of students has grown yearly. Today we are 89 students and 17 professors (including part-time). Eleven African Franciscan Entities are involved. The College offers two types of courses: one for Priesthood candidates, and the other for lay candidates. many of the courses are held in common. With the help and aspirations of all those involved, the Center desires to be a sign of working together in order to implant the Order in Africa and to show the Continent, often times dominated by rivalry and conflict, that it is possible to live in brotherhood despite cultural differences. This project of the three Franciscan Families, was born in a very difficult time and although it is still quite new, it is growing despite many obstacles. It is an act of faith on the part of the Order and it expresses the commitment we have to the people of this area of Africa as well as to the Church and its mission.

Friar Ivo Markovic, of the Province of the Holy Cross (Bosnia), professor of theology in Sarajevo, has received the "Peace Activist Award" from the Center Tanenbaum for Inter-Religious Understanding (New York). It is the first time that the prize of five thousand dollars has been granted and with it a person who has done much for peace in his homeland has been honored. He has done so despite the fact that he has lost his father and many members of his family to the war. Receiving the Prize, Friar Ivo thanked, even in the name of everyone of the brothers in his Province, and has reiterated that true religion is not an ideology, but rather a source of charity, joy, peace and shared living.

On May 22nd, a seismic tremor of 6.6 on the Richter scale hit the region of Aiquile, Bolivia. The Cathedral of Mons. Adalberto Rosat, OFM, recently restructured, lost both of its towers and has been greatly damaged, to the point that it will have to be demolished. The Shrines of Mizque and Totora and some of the Chapels serving the rural community have also suffered much damage. The statue of the Madonna in Chilijchi fell and is in pieces. The "Casa de la Juventud", cared for by Friar Marco, will have to be demolished according to the civil authorities. The houses of the people of Aiquile, Totora and Mizque have also suffered much damage, especially in the second tremor on the night of the 25th: 80% of these have fallen. The Prelature of Aiquile, at 2.000 meters, has a surface of 23.325 km and a population of 296.000 inhabitants. The President of the Republic, Hugo Banzer, has been to the Mission and participated at the Mass celebrated in the Plaza of Aiquile for the over 100 victims.

The whole of the Mass Media has spoken of the Aquatic disaster of Sarno, Italy. On the evening of May 5th a river of mud (circa 1 million tons) poured down from the four points of Mount Pizzo d'Alvano (1.130 meters high).
In its wake it brought death and pain: Sarno (132dead, 50 lost, 164 wounded, 2.459 homeless), in Quindici (11 dead), in Bracigliano (6 dead, 90 homeless), in Siano (5 dead, 200 homeless), in San Felice (1 dead). None of the five OFM Houses (belonging to the Provinces of Salerno and Benevento) suffered any damage from the flood and the Friars immediately made themselves available to assisting the homeless in the public schools or in the homes of relatives and friends. Of the three Centers of Welcome in Sarno, the Friars, along with other volunteers coordinate two.
Friar Maurizio Albano has been designated President of a committee promoting the construction of a new hospital. In Bracigliano the Conventual kitchen has been temporarily made available for cooking the meals of the soldiers who have come to clean up the territory. Several funerals for the victims of the flood have been celebrated in the two churches offering Christian consolation to the relatives of the deceased. The local SFO communities, along with some Franciscan Sisters have collaborated with the Friars.

"Renunciation, resignation, apathy, delusion for the provinces that are getting old; or the satisfaction of "self-sufficiency" for those that continue having vocations.
We all need:

* audacity, animated by that passion, which is gift of the Spirit, in order to redefine our identity, so as to live our vocation: the pressures of secularization are always stronger and infidelity to religious values is always more frequent.

* audacity in believing in the marvels that God can work with us and through us at whatever age, beyond every dying structure. it is only by changing that one walks towards perfection.

* audacity in crossing the threshold of our own domestic, Provincial interests: "Our Cloister id the world". Let us not deceive ourselves: we cannot save ourselves by ourselves! Faith, like love and brotherhood, multiply to the measure in which they are given.

* audacity in a missionary itinerancy that is expressed, above all, in availability and solidarity, in unceasingly going out to others, to those furthest away.

* audacity that is prophetic, which consists in collaborating with the Spirit in order to raise up among us prophets and prophetic brotherhood".
Fr. Giacomo Bini, to the Conference Presidents

The Pope has named Ex General Minister, Friar Hermann Schalück, and the General Minister, Friar Giacomo Bini, members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (7.6.98).

Fr. Kevin Goode, Provincial Minister of the Province of the Holy Spirit, Australia, has presented his resignation as Minister due to health problems. The General Definitorium has named a General Visitor who will preside at the Provincial Chapter in October.

Opera Omnia, (Editio Minor) 1. Opera Philosophica (Ioannes Duns Scotus), Editrice AGA, Alberobello (Bari) 1998, pp. 1248.
Friar Giovanni Lauriola, Director of the Centro Studio Personalisti "Giovanni Duns Scoto" of Castellana Grotte, Bari, has edited the volume. The completed Opus will be made up of three volumes of over 1000 pages each. The texts are those of the Wadding edition. An accessible and manageable edition. Text in Latin.