From February 1 to 6, 2027, the Capuchin Friars Minor will hold their Pan-African gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting, which aims to contribute to “the future path of the Capuchins in Africa” and to become “a significant moment for the animation of other parts of the world,” has already resonated strongly across the continent’s various circumscriptions.
The preparatory work, which began with a formal convocation by the General Minister (January 2026), has continued unabated. Obviously, the preparatory commission is working intensively; here are some of the steps involved: choosing speakers, structuring the meeting, topics to be presented to all the friars of Africa, budget, liturgy, event logo, logistics, etc. Br. Arnold Shirima, President of CAMSA, has written a letter to all the African friars to raise awareness of the event so that more brothers can contribute to making it as fruitful as possible.
In tandem with this work, both the commission and the assembly of major superiors are working to collect feedback from all African friars, compile and summarize the responses, and forward them to the expert collaborators. Since the beginning of April, the circumscriptions have been sending in their responses to the questionnaire, which must be submitted to the commission by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, a communications commission, composed of five friars, is working tirelessly to gather information from the circumscriptions, produce multimedia content, and publish all relevant information on the CAMSA website (www.camsafrica.org) and on other African social media platforms created specifically for the pan-African meeting and related events.
Currently, as the African circumscriptions are finalizing and submitting their questionnaire responses to the designated commission, the communications team is working to provide information to all the friars and to specifically engage the houses of formation scattered across the vast continent. The goal is to encourage the participation of many young friars and to inspire them to contribute articles, videos, and other content useful for promoting the event on the continent. Br. Agostinho Augusto, head of communications, hopes that “no friar will remain unaware of or excluded from participating in this important event for the Capuchins in Africa, which we hope will mark a historic milestone in how we understand our mission and our charism among the faithful of Africa.”
PANAF 2027 is the sixth conference held on African soil and aims to address the theme “The Importance of Human Relationships in Africa and Capuchin Identity.” This theme builds upon previous PACCs (Pan-African Capuchin Conference), which have addressed formation in Africa, missionary solidarity, identity and a sense of belonging in the African context, and the economic challenges of self-sufficiency. These very topics highlight the main challenges facing our presence in Africa.