Chapter of the Seraphic Province of St. Francis of Assisi

The Chapter of the Seraphic Province of San Francesco d'Assisi, which welcomes the friars of Umbria and Sardinia in Italy, took place in two phases in the months of April and May 2026.

With the central theme of the journey and discipleship, in April the friars set off, inspired by the evangelical icon of the Visitation: "They left without delay". The first phase of the Chapter represented an invitation to overcome the resistance, to abandon the certainties of the past to open up bravely to the newness of the present and to the challenges of evangelization in a constantly changing world.

The capitular elections determined the leadership of the province for the next triennium:

• Br. Marco Vianelli, Minister Provincial;
• Br. Georges Massinelli, Provincial Vicar;
• Br. Simone Ceccobao, Br. Andrea Dovio, Br. Dario Garioni, Br. Antonello Medda, Br. Luigi Napolitano and Br. Rosario Vaccar: Provincial Definitors.

The new Government has been entrusted with the task of accompanying the Province in the delicate process of discernment and restructuring of presences in the territory. 

After the first elective phase, the friars met on May 17 at the Domus Pacis in Santa Maria degli Angeli to begin the second part of the provincial chapter. The opening of the proceedings was characterized by a clear and suggestive mandate: walking with "feet well planted on the ground" - to remain attached to the reality, history and fragilities of contemporary man - and with "the gaze turned to Heaven", to never lose the horizon of grace and the guidance of the Spirit. This session was immediately configured as the right time to translate spiritual intuitions into concrete choices and programmatic lines.

A crucial moment of the second session was listening to voices outside the fraternity, an exercise in synodality experienced on a broad scale. After listening to the report of Bishop Giuseppe Baturi on the situation and prospects of the Church in Italy, the Provincial Chapter wanted to give space and voice to the representatives of the families of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) and the consecrated sisters of the Third Regular Order (TOR). This comparison highlighted the importance of a "differentiated co-responsibility" in which friars and laity actively collaborate, each according to his own charisma, for the edification of the Kingdom of God.

The issues, explored in depth within the work of the different commissions, were thus framed from a communal perspective, guided by a profound desire to safeguard the quality of fraternal life and relationships. The objective that emerged is to rethink the presence in the territory, overcoming the particularisms to open up to a shared, broader and interdependent project. Fraternity is thus a style of announcement and proximity, capable of getting close to the challenges of the contemporary world and to the most fragile realities with the same spirit of welcome experienced in the chapter days.

Aware of their own fragilities, but strong in the joy of walking together, the chapter friars left for their respective fraternities, ready to make bloom, once again, the prophecy of common life and the fruitfulness of the mission in the steps of the Spirit.