How can a Capuchin friar remain faithful to his Franciscan vocation while serving as a diocesan bishop responsible for secular clergy and the lay faithful?
That question was at the heart of an assembly of approximately 55 Capuchin bishops from around the world held Sept. 9–13 in Assisi, Italy, for prayer, study, and fraternal reflection.
Set against the historic backdrop of the Jubilee of St. Francis and the approaching 500th anniversary of the Capuchin Reform, prelates serving in Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe, and Indonesia shared their pastoral realities and reflected on their service to the universal Church.
“We are going back to Assisi in this wonderful year of the Jubilee of St. Francis,” Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, archbishop emeritus of Boston, said. “It is a great honor. It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience the fraternity of so many bishops from all over the world.”
According to Vatican statistics, there are 5,525 Catholic bishops worldwide. Of those, 4,332, or 78.4%, are diocesan bishops formed within the secular clergy, while 1,193, or 21.6%, are members of institutes of consecrated life, including Capuchins, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Salesians. The Capuchin order counts more than 74 bishops among its members.
The assembly offered the bishops an opportunity to share their experiences as members of a religious order governing dioceses made up of secular clergy and lay faithful. In particular, they considered how to live the Capuchin values of contemplative prayer, fraternal life, minority, poverty, and closeness to the people in their governance and pastoral care of local Churches.
Capuchin bishops arrive in Assisi, Italy, for a retreat held Sept. 9-13, 2026. | Credit: General Curia of the Capuchin Friars Minor
The Capuchin value of ‘vicinanza’
According to Archbishop Emeritus Andrés Stanovnik of Corrientes, Argentina, the Capuchin value of “vicinanza” — closeness or proximity to others — is the bridge between his Capuchin identity and his episcopal ministry.
Though a bishop must, in his words, “leave behind his identity as a friar and take up the identity of a bishop,” what unites the two vocations is “vicinanza.”
This is profoundly a Franciscan instinct, not an incidental one, because St. Francis of Assisi did not renew the Church through abstractions or distance. He embraced the leper, sat with the poor, and preached in public squares rather than only from the pulpit.
Franciscan closeness is not merely being nice or sociable but a theological stance: Holiness is discovered in proximity to the concrete, wounded, and ordinary human person, not in withdrawal from others.
Stanovnik said proximity to the people must survive the transition into hierarchical office; otherwise, the episcopate risks becoming purely administrative rather than pastoral. The question for Capuchin bishops is whether closeness to the poor and ordinary people has been preserved or traded for institutional distance.
Returning to the Gospel without becoming fossilized
Reflecting on the historical significance of the Capuchin Reform, Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, emphasized that the movement begun in 1528 was born of a divine prompting to return to the original charism of St. Francis of Assisi.
Drawing on his 50 years as a friar and 27 years as a bishop in four Tanzanian dioceses — Mbulu, Dodoma, Mwanza, and Dar es Salaam — Ruwa’ichi said: “God prompted the founders of the Capuchin Reform to desire to go back to their sources, to desire to live faithfully the charism of St. Francis.”
“The charism must be lived faithfully in the course of time, and as we live the charism faithfully, we should not be fossilized,” he continued. “We should not allow ourselves to be trapped in a certain approach that does not allow us to continue listening to the Holy Spirit and to continue responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”
He also expressed gratitude for the concrete support of his fellow friars.
“I have always been given a friar to work and live with me, and that has been very helpful,” he said. “So, along with living with my diocesan clergy, I also have the support of a confrere who understood me, who served as my confessor, who served as my driver, who served as my private secretary.”
Capuchin bishops in Assisi, Italy, during a retreat held Sept. 9–13, 2026. | Credit: General Curia of the Capuchin Friars Minor
Combating isolation through fraternal solidarity
O’Malley said the international assembly, organized at the initiative of the Capuchin minister general, Father Roberto Genuin, and his council, offered essential encouragement to bishops, most of whom serve in mission territories.
Exchanging experiences of evangelization in a fraternal setting helps bishops “know that they are not alone and that there are many brothers who share their ministry,” he said.
“They do not work in isolation,” O’Malley added, saying the gathering imparted fresh spiritual energy to their ministry. “So, it is a wonderful opportunity for us.”
Addressing contemporary cultural pressures, he pointed to increasing secularization and social divisions as paramount challenges for Church leaders.
“It is very encouraging that the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, is trying to bring peace and unity, themes of his pontificate, and they are certainly very Franciscan themes,” O’Malley said. “Francis called us to be universal brothers and to be instruments of peace and to try and bring people together to follow Christ with the joy of the Gospel.”
Restoring the original gift to the universal Church
Stanovnik described the approaching 500th anniversary as a crucial moment to rediscover the core Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The Capuchins, 500 years ago, revived this practice, placing certain emphases on it,” he said. “For example, mental and contemplative prayer, simplicity in community life, closeness to the people and preaching.”
He said Capuchin bishops are called to absorb these original gifts anew and offer them back, fully restored, for the revitalization of the universal Church.
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