The morning session started at 9.00, to be able to finish the discussion on the economic situation of the International Presidency and to vote on some specific proposals. The votation were held by a how of hands, green indicating consent, red non accpetance and white abstension. There were 52 voting members present.

Youfra: Franciscan Youth

The 2002 Chapter said; "All the National Fraternities pay very close attention to the Franciscan life as it is lived by young people. However, a number of problems have come to light concerning the relationship between SFO and Youfra, in the area of spiritual assistance of the young people‘s groups and sometimes in the lack of comparability in the guidelines applied to the different groups. The awareness of the importance of Youfra, on the part of representatives from all over the world has been considerable and unanimous".

The responsability of communicating their particular vocation to young people, and the sense of commitment to share with them their own experience of evangelical fraternal life, are growing greatly. So too is there greater clarity regarding the various possibilities of integrating young people -- who are increasingly older -- into the SFO. And so, several National Fraternities -- those where a a clear choice has been made to offer the secular Franciscan life to young people, providing them with their own areas of activity and a type of formation geared to their needs -- show understanding, generosity and openness in accepting that the yopung people‘s ways of expressing and living the gospel fraternity put forward and lived by Francis of Assisi will be different to those of adults and especially to those of old people. There is an ever greater interest and desire to see the Rule of the SFO as a document that inspires their Christian life and as a freely chosen life-project. Artícle 34 of the Constitutions is gradually becoming a very valuable tool to integrate groups of young people into the SFO, since it provides a way for them not to lose contact with their original youth group, and at the same time to share specific moments in the life of the local fraternity, under the guidance of the one Council.

In revising the documents of Youfra, sprecial care has been taken when defining the age for membership of that group, since being adult is very much dependent on cultural and geographical factors, and even on the particular country. The same applies to leaving Youfra after marriage, because men and women between the ages of 21-21 are still young people and still have needs and affinities proper to that age group. Flexibility in this area, initiatives such as "young adults", together with the conviction and dedication of many National Fraternities, through clear and well defined programs, especially in the formation field, are having good results in terms of the natural integration of young people coming from Youfra into the fraternities. And so, on the occasion of Chapters and visitations, we have often met with very young regional and/or local Ministers who are the fruit of these courageous and generous initiatives.

Spiritual assistance continues to be something we must insist on, as it is not easy to find suitably trained religious men or women (or even members of the SFO) to give this fraternal assistance to young people in a disinterested way and with the conviction that they are offering the spiritual journey which our SFO Rule puts forward. This point will be dealt with in depth in the Report of the Conference of Spiritual Assistants.

Franciscan Children‘s groups

A strong movement exists, especially in Latin America and some Asian countries, working with children, with excellent results, so that as our Constitutions say, "they may "open themsrelves up to community ..." And conscious ... of the fascination of Francis of Assisi ... the formation of children‘s groups should be fostered ...". The resource material produced by the previous Presidency is proving very useful for the encouragement of these children‘s groups.

The work which is now being done in this area also implies that those in charge of it in the SFO fraternities should call meetings with the parents of the children from time to time, in otrder to share with them the kind of experiences that are being offered to their children. This in turn will encourage in the parents the desire to know what it is their children find so interesting and enjoyable. The level of interest is being maintained; in fact we are beginning to see groups of teenagers being formed, which provide a sense of continuity. All of us should give consideration to this venture, which calls for dedication, creativity, self-giving and a consistent life witness, because children are extremely observant and critical.

Obviously, these excellent initiatives deserve careful and lengthy consideration by the Chapter. We congratulate those who are carrying forward these ventures and thank God for the apostolic creativity of our brothers and sisters.