Letter of the Secretary of State
Holy See

Secretariat of State
Department of General Affairs
N. 504.306

From the Vatican,
11 th October 2001

Most Reverend Br. Giacomo Bini
Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor
Via S. Maria Mediatrice, 25
00165 ROME.

Most Reverend Father,

With attentive thought the Order has wished to inform His Holiness of the coming Plenary Council that will take place from the 5th to the 17th of November of the present year in Guadalajara.

The Holy Father, very grateful for the document of devote respect, is pleased to assure His spiritual closeness to such an important meeting, rejoicing that it will be held in Mexico, a country very dear to His heart. Such a choice, opening the Order to international horizons, projects it towards a new evangelisation with an intense impulse from a young country where many feel a fascination for the bright figure of Francis of Assisi and for his commitment to following Christ "sine glossa".

The Holy Father also expresses appreciation for the decision to face up to the topic of "creative fidelity" to the original charism, given just prominence in the post-synod apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (n. 37).

It exhorts you to keep, with enlightened courage, to the sanctity of the Founder, a reflection of that of Christ, by grasping the inexhaustible stimulus to tend towards this "high measure" of Christian life that is proposed again with conviction to all the baptised (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). This will lead to putting the structures of the Institute at the ever more generous service of the mission of the Church, in coherence with the Rule and the Constitutions.

The Order, in this way, will be able to take back with greater intensity the fundamental values of its charism, among which there stands out contemplation that transforms the praying person into Him whom he contemplates and spurs him with joyful nature to even costly gestures of love towards the poor and marginalised. Those features of Franciscan spirituality such as fraternity, minority, gospel witness, the love of nature and the search for peace, which shape its specific physiognomy, will be boosted as a consequence.

His Holiness hopes that, in dynamic fidelity to the Rule of the Seraphic Father and to the multi-century journey of the Order, the Plenary Council will know how to discern well the opportune ways to respond to the present situations and needs.

With such hopes, the Supreme Pontiff calls down the abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the maternal assistance of the Most Blessed Mary on the participants in the Plenary Council while, wishing you peaceful and profitable work, He sends from the heart the besought Apostolic Blessing to you and your co-Friars.

I take advantage of the situation to express my religious esteem of your most reverend paternity

Sincerely,

+ A. Card. Sodano
Secretary of State.