Intervention of Rev. F. Mauro JÖHRI, General Minister of the Franciscan Order of Friars
Minor Capuchin (ITALY)
In my intervention I recalled the characteristics of the presence of the Capuchins
in the Middle East down through the centuries within the wider Franciscan tradition.
I paid particular attention to the situation in Turkey. I remembered the cultural
commitment and pastoral dedication of the Capuchin bishop Mons. Luigi Padovese, Apostolic
Vicar to Anatolia, who was brutally murdered last 3 June, and I recalled the grave
difficulties Christians are subject to in that land. Among the commitments of the
Capuchins, apart from the pastoral care of Christians spread throughout an enormous
territory, works of charity and evangelical witness, I recalled his commitment to
promoting the symposia of Tarsus on Saint Paul and of Ephesus on Saint John, in collaboration
with the Antonianum Spiritual Institute with the aim of promoting interest in the
sites of the origins of Christianity, rediscovering their cultural importance, and
not just for Christians. I also recalled his commitment to the promotion of meeting
and dialogue with Muslims through the organization of symposia on inter-religious
dialogue. To sum up, the commitment of the Capuchins, along with that of the other
ecclesial realities, becomes concrete in wanting to be witnesses in the ecclesial
communion of Christ as the hope of peace for everyone. Finally I recalled, quoting
the words of our murdered brother, that it is always possible to live this apostolic
responsibility, even where, because of difficulties and discrimination, the only possible
commitment “is that of being a presence. A witness. With a greatly reduced pastoral
activity [...] the mission is presence”; this is then the only way to render justice
to the witness of the martyrs who shed their blood in these lands for the Gospel of
Christ.