Rome, ITALY – The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin has embarked on a process of reflection at the global level in preparation for the Plenary Council of the Order (PCO), scheduled for October 2026. The initiative, which originates from the directives of the General Chapter of 2024, aims to involve every friar in “a powerful time of animation and synodal discernment” on some important elements for our journey today as Capuchin friars: Mission, Fraternal Collaboration, and the impact of the St. Lawrence Fraternities.
Mission
Mission will be the central topic of reflection in the PCO. Our charism, from its origins, beginning with St. Francis, is intrinsically missionary, as witnessed by the sending of the first friars “to the various parts of the world.” The Capuchin Order has historically given great importance to mission, even during its most vulnerable times.
However, after the Second Vatican Council and in a context of cultural change and concern for vocations, the missionary spirit is being called to revival. The Order recognizes that “losing missionary vigor would mean disfiguring the very face of our Order.” The reflection for the PCO will aim to identify base reasons for stimulating missionary commitment, conveying apostolic generosity to recent generations, and redefining mission in light of the new evangelization, responding to the ever-urgent need to spread the Gospel.
Fraternal Collaboration
Fraternal Collaboration emerged as an important theme at the last General Chapter, where it was considered essential for sustaining and revitalizing key dimensions of our charism, including formation, evangelization and mission.
In the global/international context, collaboration is seen as a response to the current challenges in an organized and articulate way, while safeguarding a unity of charism among the universal fraternity. If lived out generously, it would be an effective way to revitalize our charism in those places that require more attention. The PCO will provide an opportunity to reflect on the importance of this collaboration, for its subsequent organization and reinforcement.
The St. Lawrence Fraternities
The Saint Lawrence of Brindisi Fraternities represent a concrete and non-exclusive attempt to translate mission and collaboration into daily life. Established in response to the challenge of secularization and dwindling presence in some areas, particularly in Europe, the St. Lawrence Fraternities aim to live authentically and consistently the four essential aspects of Capuchin life: prayer, fraternity, minority/poverty and mission.
Involvement and Deadlines
A preparatory commission was appointed in June 2025 and has already sent out introductory texts and questions for guidance to all brothers, fraternities and circumscriptions. The goal is to gather, through extensive inquiry, the contributions that will feed into an instrumentum laboris, the basis for PCO 2026.
Superiors of the Order are called to promote maximum participation by encouraging both overviews by circumscription and personal reflections by individual friars. They are asked to gather “even the most diverse thoughts, without excluding those that might seem uncomfortable.”
All overviews and personal contributions should be sent by December 31, 2025 to the following e-mail: [email protected].
We hope that this preparation can be a fundamental step in the journey that will lead to the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the presence of the Capuchin charism in the Church. The launch of this reflection, occurring in the missionary month of October and on the day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, patroness of the Missions, underscores the centrality of the missionary vocation.
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