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May 13, 2025The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia is hosting the assembly of the Capuchin General Custody of Arabia (12-14 May, 2025).
The Custody includes around 90 friars from approximately 20 provinces across the world. They serve in both the Northern and Southern Arabia Vicariates. These days, they have gathered for the assembly at St. Paul’s Church in Musaffah, Abu Dhabi, with participants from both Vicariates.
Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia and a Capuchin friar himself, was invited to the meeting, along with his predecessor, Bishop Paul Hinder.
The theme of this year’s assembly is “To walk joyfully in the footsteps of Christ.”
Fr. Michael Fernandes, the Custos, stated, “We are working throughout the Gulf region, and often it is difficult to truly know one another. Every three years, we meet for the elective chapter, but we need moments like this—opportunities to come together, to listen, and to understand the different ways of living, because each region has its own peculiarities and uniqueness.”
The aim of the assembly, he added, is “to live our Capuchin charism and spirituality together—praying together, getting to know each other, sharing time for recreation, and strengthening our fraternity. I hope the friars return enriched, inspired, and ready to walk alongside the people once more.”
On Monday, May 12, Bishop Paolo presided over the Mass and pointed to the Capuchin Fraternity as an example (full text):
“They come from all over the world, they speak different languages, they have different cultures and rites. Jesus the Good Shepherd arrived in their lands and called them to religious life to serve the people of God. As you see, they are different, but they form one family.”
On Tuesday, May 13, Bishop Paolo gave a talk on “Fraternity and Synodality in the Jubilee Year” and the challenges facing the Capuchin Franciscan Fraternity.
Bishop Paolo drew from his nine years of experience as a consultant to the Synod Secretariat (2005–2014), reflecting on the shift in the understanding of the word Synod under Pope Francis. “The concept of synodality has been significantly expanded,” he said, “and has become increasingly associated with the desire for a Church that is closer to the people and more relational” (cf. Final Document of the Synod, n. 28).
According to Bishop Paolo, the Capuchin Fraternity can make a valuable contribution to the synodal journey of the Church: “The gift of an intercultural fraternity—where friars from different nations live together despite different languages, cultures, and even rites—is decisive. They become an example for the people, a sign of communion and synodality.”
“The migratory process is creating a new and unprecedented situation,” he noted. “The concept of territory has changed. Even the idea of a ‘local Church’ can no longer be understood rigidly. In this context, we recognize the great value of religious life, which is international by its very nature.”
He added that while in the past the focus was on the inculturation of faith and the Capuchin Franciscan charism, “today the urgency is to live the interculturality of faith and of the Capuchin Franciscan charism.” Intercultural fraternity, he said, “is the way in which our charism can serve the Church that lives synodality as an ancient and new way of embodying the mystery of communion.”