On Saturday, October 17, 2026, the second meeting of the “Validation Group” was held at the Seraphicum College in Rome. The group is collaborating with the General Secretariat for Formation (SGF) to draft the document Discernment in Fraternity. The first meeting took place on September 19, 2026.
The document stems from an initiative by the Minister General, Friar Carlos Alberto TROVARELLI, who entrusted the General Secretariat for Formation with the task of drafting a text on communal discernment. This request sparked a process of reflection that gradually took shape as Discernment in Fraternity, a document still being developed.
To make the drafting process itself an opportunity for shared discernment, the General Definitory asked the SGF to involve friars from different Provinces and areas of the Order, inviting them to contribute their experiences, observations, and proposals. This led to the formation of the Validation Group, which met for the second time at the Seraphicum, together with the other members of the SGF and in the presence of the Vicar General, Friar Igor SALMIČ.
This meeting is part of a process that will progress through further reflection and in-depth study. The initiative fits within the framework outlined by Motion 10 of the 2025 Ordinary General Chapter, which focuses on our identity and Franciscan charism and seeks to explore discernment as a fundamental dimension of fraternal life.
The Validation Group is composed of Friars Silvano BIANCO and Massimo VEDOVA of the Italian Province of St. Francis of Assisi (Central Italy); Friar Josip BLAŽEVIĆ of the Province of St. Jerome in Croatia; Friar Danilo HOLC of the Province of St. Joseph in Slovenia; Friar Joseph KACHELEWA of the Province of the Franciscan Protomartyrs in Zambia; Friars Emil KUMKA and Adam MĄCZKA of the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow); Friar Martin Renish PALLIKKARA of the Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in India and a member of the SGF; Friars Alessandro PERISSINOTTO and Alessandro ZOTTAREL of the Italian Province of St. Anthony of Padua (Northern Italy); Friar Colin Charles SAMMUT of the Province of St. Paul the Apostle in Malta and Assistant General for the Federazione Inter-mediterranea Ministri Provinciali (FIMP); Friar Piotr SZCZEPAŃSKI of the Province of the Immaculate Mother of God in Poland (Warsaw); Friar Lindor Alcides TOFFUL of the “Rioplatense” Province of St. Anthony of Padua in Argentina-Uruguay; Friar Akira TOYAMA of the Province of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. in Japan; and Friar Augustin VEREȘ of the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the B.V.M., in Romania.
I would like to thank all these confreres for their willingness to participate and for their commitment to further enrich the document through their observations and proposals. Their collaboration allows us to advance a process that does more than reflect on fraternity: it seeks to put fraternity into practice even during the text’s preparation phase.
We wish to continue on this journey by listening to God and to one another. In our Franciscan vocation, discernment means more than finding the best solutions together or making sound decisions. Above all, it means learning to recognize and accept the Lord’s will in our lives. It is an attitude we are called to cultivate every day, remaining faithful to the exhortation of St. Francis of Assisi in the Rule: “Let them pay attention to what they must desire above all else: to have the Spirit of the Lord and Its holy activity” (Later Rule 10:8).
Friar Bernardino HOSPITAL POSADA
Secretary General for Formation
