The speeches of the Popes to the Capuchins

St. Francis of Assisi from the beginning of his conversion always had in his heart a great love for the Church, which manifested itself in obedience to the Pope. From the very beginning he went to the Supreme Pontiff to receive approval of the lifestyle that he was beginning to live with his brothers. Also, in his Rule he obliges his successors and all the friars to be obedient to the Vicar of Christ.

For this reason it is no coincidence that during the important and particularly grace-filled moments for the Order - specifically the General Chapters - the friars, without fail, endeavor to present themselves to the Pope in order to listen to his words and receive his blessing.

The speeches of the Popes to the Capuchins are also, then, a rich source of charismatic and spiritual inspiration for us who are followers of the Poverello.

On our website recently, under the DOCUMENTS tab on the main menu, we created a new tab in the drop-down menu called: Speeches of the Popes. In this tab we have collected some papal discourses (Paul VI to Pope Francis) given to our Order during audiences granted to the friars on the occasions of General Chapters. The complete collection is in Italian, and some are available in various other languages; in some instances all the texts are translated, in other only some.

These addresses to our Order are not simply benign, sentimental commentaries on the part of the Popes, but every now and then they contain strong charismatic catechesis with very specific elements aimed at spurring us along the path to which the Church calls us today.

We invite you to take pause and take in these charismatic texts addressed precisely to us, the Capuchin Friars Minor.