From June 7 to August 25, 2019, the Missionary Center of the Federazione Inter-mediterranea Ministri Provinciali (FIMP) operated a booth on the banks of the Tiber River during an event entitled “Along the Tiber: Rome 2019—A River of Culture”.

The Missionary Center booth was open free of charge and was part of a larger exhibition stretching for two kilometers [one and a quarter miles] along the bankside. The exhibition featured sixty booths and thirty refreshment points. During the booth’s eighty-day run, almost two million people passed by, including foreigners, Italians and tourists from Rome.
For the sixth year in a row, the friars were present “among and with the people” in the context of Rome’s nightlife. They offered meaningful proposals to help passersby grow in solidarity, cooperation and mission. The booth also served to raise awareness of the missions of the Friars Minor Conventual. The Order is present in forty countries around the world.
To animate this year’s booth, the Director of the Center, Friar Paolo FIASCONARO, collaborated with some clerical students from the Franciscanum in Assisi and a postulant from Osimo.
The evenings were well-animated by the charismatic group “Vittoria di Dio”. There were classical and jazz concerts in front of the booth and numerous visits by notable figures from the Church and society. The national and international media took special interest in the booth and gave it extensive news and television coverage. This year, the booth presented two missionary proposals: “Saving the Amazon” and “Promoting Africa”.
The Amazon exhibit was part of the ongoing preparations for the next Synod of Bishops which Pope Francis has called for October 6-27, 2019. The exhibit raised awareness among the many people who nightly strolled the river walk, inviting them to share the challenges facing humanity today. In fact, the Amazon has been getting world-wide attention due to the many problems afflicting it, the need to re-evangelize the area, the impending collapse of the planet’s great green lung and political changes in Brazil that do not bode well.
The exhibition space for Africa (with images of African children, a hut and animal cutouts) called for promoting our missions in Africa, which face a number of problems: increasing poverty, exploitation of human resources, the colonization of large mineral deposits, and above all, conducting the re-evangelization of Africa by a Church that is closer to the needs of the people. The Conventual Franciscan presences in Africa (Zambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana) need substantial collaboration. Therefore, an appeal is being made to richer countries, asking them to help these missionary realities on their way to forming their own organic religious and social structure.

Lorenza CASSANELLI of the Franciscan Missionary Center of Rome