From April 25 to May 5, 2025, eight senior friars of the Foederatio Europae Mediae et Orientalis (FEMO) participated in a continuing formation retreat and pilgrimage.
This was the third round of a program that has been organized by the General Secretariat for Formation (SGF). The program includes pilgrimages to places related to our Order and linked to the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year. Participants experience firsthand how these places and their history continue to shape spiritual attitudes and inspire life and ministry. In Rome, the pilgrims visited Jubilee shrines, celebrated Mass at the Church of St. Paul at the Three Fountains, the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles, and the Friary of St. Maximilian Kolbe. The pilgrimage also included sites associated with the life of St. Francis: Greccio, Fonte Colombo, San Damiano, the Portiuncula, the Sacred Convent of Assisi, the Carceri, Rivotorto, and La Verna. There was also time for rest, individual outings, personal prayer and reflection.
Thanks go first to the General Government of the Order for providing a minibus, which made organizing the retreat much easier. Thanks go to the communities of the General Curia, the Seraphicum in Rome and the Franciscanum in Assisi for their hospitality and fraternal welcome. Thanks also to Friars Jan MACIEJOWSKI, Dariusz MAZUREK, Wiesław PYZIO and Gianni HUANG for praying with us, showing us the places where they live and minister, and for the time they shared with us.
Lastly, thanks go to the Superiors of the FEMO Federation for supporting this continuing formation initiative for senior friars.
Initiatives like this are important because they remind us that formation is not limited to youth or to time spent in formation houses. Formation is a lifelong journey of following Christ.
Friar Piotr STANISŁAWCZYK, General Delegate for Formation
