Prot. N. 2071/09
To the SFO and YOUFRA National Councils
URGENT COMMUNIQUÉ "You have faith and I have works. Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my work.” (James 2: 14-18). Dear brothers and sisters: May the Lord give you peace! The reason for this urgent letter is to call your attention to the terrible persecution that Christians in Pakistan are currently suffering. Our SFO brothers and sisters from this country have written to us in distress, to make us aware of the current situation in their country and to request some type of intervention on the part of the Secular Franciscan Order and the Franciscan Youth. In many countries there are tensions between Christians and Muslims. Our Christian sisters and brothers in Pakistan, India and many other places in the world are being threatened, stigmatized, exterminated and accused of desecrating the Koran, just because of their faith and being witnesses to the Good News of Salvation. By not giving up their faith, they are aware that they will share in the Passion of the Lord, something that Francis of Assisi longed for. In this way, they bear witness to their love for God and to the love of God, who makes them his own through martyrdom. The Presidency, aware of the gravity of this situation, has decided to write to the whole Order and to YouFra to raise awareness of this grave problem that is taking many innocent people’s lives just because they are living and professing their faith in God. Thus, we want to respond to our Rule and General Constitutions which call us to:
The Presidency, following the initiative of the Presence in the World Commission and our Vice Minister General, Doug Clorey (Vice President of “Franciscans International”), has decided to undertake the following initiatives, for which all SFO and YOUFRA National Councils are to become responsible, with no excuse:
We now entrust each SFO and YOUFRA National Council and International Counselor to get as many brothers and sisters from their National Fraternity involved - directly or through the Regional Councils - in offering prayers, sacrifices, donations, and in spreading - whether it is convenient or inconvenient - the information on this subject within their diverse spheres: family, work, leisure time. We also request all Councils (National, Regional, and Local) to make this initiative known to their local Church, as well as to the ecclesial or civil associations and movements at the local level, encouraging them to do their part or join in our initiatives. We, as SFO members, promised to be peacemakers. Let us spread the message that love will conquer hate, that forgiveness is stronger than revenge, and that we - Christians, Muslims and all other believers - should share our lives together, as brothers and sisters. John Paul II once prayed to the “poverello” and recalled, among other things, that “today’s man needs St. Francis’ faith, hope, and charity...” May the prayer of the venerated and beloved Pope make us stronger in order to be coherent and to prove, with our works, the faith and charity that sustain our vocation and mission. We have consciously chosen the date of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi. He loved the Lord so much that he desired to experience in his body the sufferings of the Passion in order to better comprehend Jesus’ love as he himself described it in the ‘Little Flowers’: "O Lord Jesus Christ, two graces do I ask of thee before I die; the first, that in my lifetime I may feel, as far as possible, both in my soul and body, that pain which thou, sweet Lord, didst endure in the hour of thy most bitter Passion; the second, that I may feel in my heart as much as possible of that excess of love by which thou, O Son of God, wast inflamed to suffer so cruel a Passion for us sinners" Trusting wholly in your active and responsible action, I wish you a happy Saint Francis feast day. Yours fraternally,
Encarnación del Pozo Attachment 1 - Letter to the Government of Pakistan
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