The Franciscan Mission Continues…
On June 19, 2025, the Assembly of the Federazione Intermediterranea Ministri Provinciali (FIMP) following the renewal of its Presidential Council, appointed Friar Lucian-Mihai BOBÂRNAC as the new Director of the Franciscan Missionary Center ONLUS [non-profit organization]. Friar Lucian is a member of the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the B.V.M. in Romania.
The new director succeeds Friar Paolo FIASCONARO, who has led the Center for twelve years, from 2013 to the present. Friar Lucian will take up the position this summer and will also serve as a collaborator in the Projects Office. Since February of 2025, he has been serving as the Director of Bynode (a non-profit). Bynode is a foundation of the Order that deals with socio-economic development projects in mission countries.
Friar Lucian is forty-five years old. He was born in Bucharest, Romania on June 4, 1980, and was ordained a priest in 2008. At the beginning of his ministry, he worked in administration and served as the distributor of the Romanian edition of the Messenger of Saint Anthony magazine. He spent five years doing pastoral ministry in Ireland and England, and for the last ten years, he was the President of the PACEA Foundation, a Romanian organization active in socio-educational and socio-economic development. He carried out several humanitarian aid missions in response to the war in Ukraine.
The outgoing Director, Friar Paolo, was in constant dialogue with missionaries and Provincial Mission Animators. He organized the annual Mission Assembly (now in its 34th year). He collaborated with the Order’s Projects Office, the Mission Center of the Vicariate of Rome (as a member of the Diocesan Advisory Council) and with the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI). He participated in meetings for Italian missionaries organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the G7.
He served as the director of the historic magazine, Il Missionario Francescano founded in 1933 (owned by the Order and transferred to the Center in 2014) and of the MissioConvInforma press agency. He oversaw the printing of two books: Andate e annunziate… [Go Forth and Proclaim] on the current Conventual Franciscan missions around the world, and Cina – L’Alba Missionaria dei Frati Minori Conventuali [China: The Missionary Dawn of the Friars Minor Conventual] on the Centenary of the opening of the mission in China (1925/2025). Both were effective tools for mission awareness at Provincial Chapters, the General Chapter, FIMP formation houses, and the Assembly of the Urbanist Poor Clares.
In the field of evangelization, from 2014 to 2024, the Center carried out an engaging missionary animation initiative along the banks of the Tiber River for three months during the summer, meeting the two million visitors who come to experience the “movida romana” [Roman nightlife]. He strengthened the institution of long-distance adoptions, particularly in Bolivia, Kenya, Peru, Uganda and Zambia. Prior to the outbreak of Covid, he visited the missions of the Conventual Franciscan friars, including some outside of the FIMP Federation, namely, missions in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and China. He produced documentary films on the missions he visited (cf. YouTube: missioni ofmconv channel).
We wish Friar Lucian all the best as he begins his new role, confident that his experience will further enrich the journey of the FIMP Mission Center. The Center called to take an additional step forward and respond to the expectations of a humanity in constant need of credible witnesses and concrete acts of solidarity.
Friar Paolo FIASCONARO
