Taking as a starting point the figure of the Poverello of Assisi, whom Franciscan Orders, congregations and families will celebrate with a series of initiatives from 2023 to 2026, the 800th anniversary of his death, Francis points to him as an example of «a man of peace and poverty, who loves and celebrates creation».
Looking precisely to the Poverello of Assisi, the Pontiff stressed that the centenary should tend to «decline together the imitation of Christ and love for the poor.» Because «Francis lived the imitation of the poor Christ and love for the poor in an inseparable way, as two sides of the same coin». The fruits of the celebrations will mature «also thanks to the atmosphere that emanates from the different Franciscan ‘places'», the Pontiff pointed out, because each of them «possesses a particular character, a fruitful gift that contributes to renewing the face of the Church».
The stages of the VIII Franciscan Centenary
The Franciscan itinerary planned for the eighth Franciscan centenary, which will last from 2023 to 2026, will have as its first stop in Fonte Colombo, near Rieti, because it was there that Francis wrote the Rule, later approved by Pope Honorius III in 1223, but also to remember the place of the first manger in history, Pope Francis recalled.
Another stop will be in La Verna, the place where, in 1224, Francis received the stigmata. The place, the Pope explained, «represents ‘the last seal’ – as Dante says (Paradiso, XI, 107) – which makes the saint assimilated to the crucified Christ and capable of penetrating the interior of human history, radically marked by pain and suffering.» Finally, in 2026 they will come to Assisi to commemorate the Transitus of Francis, in 1226, at the Porziuncola: an event that reveals the essence of Christianity, the Pontiff clarifies, which is «the hope of eternal life». And it is not by chance, Francis observes, that the tomb of the Saint, located in the Lower Basilica, has become over time «the magnet, the beating heart of Assisi.»
Source: Vatican News