The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is currently engaged in an intensive process of preparation for the Ninth Plenary Council of the Order (PCO IX). The event, organized in response to the directive of the most recent General Chapter in 2024, represents a significant time of renewal and discernment.
The Ninth Plenary Council of the Order will take place in Rome October 11 to 31, 2026, as a major milestone on the journey leading up to the celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the Capuchin charism, scheduled for 2028.
The theme that will guide the proceedings is: “The missionary dimension of our charismatic identity in the Church and in today’s world.” There are three central themes on which the Order is called to reflect: Mission, Fraternal Collaboration, and the St. Lawrence Fraternities.
Stages of Our Journey
The process of discernment and preparation involved the entire Order through several stages:
- Beginning the Work: In June 2025, the General Council appointed a preparatory commission, which met immediately in July to plan the work and discern ways of eliciting input from all the friars leading up to the drafting of the Instrumentum Laboris.
- A Global Consultation: On October 1, 2025, the feast day of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (patroness of the missions), a text accompanied by a questionnaire was sent to all the friars. The goal was to gather concerns and opinions from around the world. The response was substantial; much input was received from conferences, circumscriptions, fraternities, and individual friars, a clear sign that the topic is deeply felt within the Order.
- Gathering the Input: The commission did its utmost to assimilate the input received from around the Order, with the aim of incorporating even the most diverse thoughts, without excluding opinions that might seem uncomfortable, compiling everything by December 31, 2025.
The Instrumentum Laboris and the next steps
Drawing on the extensive material received, the Commission, working in collaboration with the General Curia’s Offices of Mission, Formation, Communication, and Statistics, conducted a careful analysis to draft the Instrumentum Laboris. This document brings the theme of Mission and Collaboration back to the forefront, reinterpreted in light of the profound cultural, social, and geographical changes that have transformed the Church and the Order itself in recent years. The Instrumentum Laboris, as its name suggests, does not aim to present definitive resolutions or proposals (this is the responsibility of the October assembly) but rather gathers and presents the issues, challenges, and hopes shared globally. It also includes conflicting opinions or perspectives that may seem uncomfortable, intentionally included to stimulate a deeper, more honest reflection befitting the significance of this major event.
The fundamental goal is that this Instrumentum Laboris not be viewed merely as an informational text, but that it becomes a genuine practical working tool, capable of continually involving all the brothers in the preparation for the PCO. For this reason, the circumscriptions are explicitly asked to promote in every fraternity at least one local chapter entirely dedicated to the study and reflection on these themes; should new and significant contributions for common discernment emerge from these local meetings, the circumscriptions will have the opportunity to forward them directly to the delegates of the conferences who will take part in the work of the plenary council.
Instrumentum Laboris
