SWITCHING OFF, ALLOWS US TO LISTEN
From Silence to the Word in the Digital Age
Blessed Gabriele Allegra's method for the Sunday of the Word 2026
To all the Friars of the Order
To the Poor Clare and Conceptionist Sisters
To the Franciscan Sisters affiliated to the Order
To the Franciscan laymen and women
Given in Rome, 3rd January, 2026
Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Lord give you His peace!
In this year 2026, the Eighth Centenary of the Transitus of Our Father St. Francis, Word Sunday falls on January 25: it is the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Blessed Br. Gabriele M. Allegra (1907-1976), Friar Minor, Missionary in China, Apostle of the Word of God in a thousand-year-old culture.
This happy coincidence gives me the opportunity to remember with gratitude his person and work. His life is a prophetic testimony that illuminates the challenge of biblical listening in the digital age. Not only do we remember what he did – the complete translation of the Bible into Chinese after twenty-six years of intense work – but we want to listen to his method and his spirit, which continue to speak with particular force…