Eight centuries after the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, his witness continues to speak to consecrated life and to our world today: an invitation to return to what is essential in the Gospel.

In 2026, we commemorate the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi. This is not simply a date to remember, but an opportunity to rediscover a Gospel vision that remains strikingly relevant today. Francis chose to live the Gospel radically: he made poverty a path to freedom, fraternity a way of encountering others, peace a deliberate choice, and creation not something to possess, but a gift to receive and care for. His life still poses a question to us today: how can we live the Gospel with that same freedom?

A charism that continues to bring forth life

From its beginnings, the Franciscan experience deeply involved women. Clare of Assisi, together with many others, recognised in Francis’ insight a path of following Christ and shaped it through her own sensitivity, giving it new forms of expression. Since then, this story has never ceased: generations of consecrated women have embodied the charism in widely diverse cultures and contexts.

Today, numerous women’s congregations within the Franciscan family express this vitality through education, care, accompaniment of the most vulnerable, the promotion of justice and the safeguarding of creation. The charism remains alive precisely because it continues to be received, interpreted and lived.

Fraternity in a divided world

Among Francis’ deepest insights was his recognition of the other as brother and sister: a fraternity that transcends differences and belonging and embraces all creation. This vision takes on particular significance in a world marked by war, polarisation, forced migration, inequality and new forms of exclusion.
To be brothers and sisters means recognising that the life of the other concerns us. For women religious, this means welcoming and listening, building relationships, accompanying those who are most vulnerable, and creating communities where differences do not lead to distance but become opportunities for encounter.

Peace is built through relationships

Peace lies at the heart of the Franciscan legacy. At a time when so many peoples are experiencing the tragedy of war, Francis’ example reminds us that peace does not depend solely on major international decisions: it begins close to home, in the way we speak, listen, navigate conflict and choose dialogue.
For consecrated women, being women of peace means creating spaces of encounter and reconciliation within communities and places of mission, standing alongside those who suffer, and keeping hope alive even where violence seems to have the final word.

A different relationship with creation

Francis called the sun, water, the earth and all creatures “brother” and “sister.” These words express a profound understanding: we are not masters of creation, but part of it, within a web of relationships that existed before us and has been entrusted to our care.
This awareness also challenges our lifestyles. Gospel simplicity can take concrete form in the way we use resources, share goods, consume and inhabit our spaces, recognising that care for the earth and care for people, especially the most vulnerable, are intimately connected.

An anniversary that looks to the future

Celebrating this eighth centenary is not only about looking back, but also about asking what this legacy can bring forth today. At a time when we risk becoming accustomed to war, Francis calls us to peace; where divisions are growing, he calls us to encounter; in the face of a culture of possession, he points to simplicity; and confronted with the fragility of our common home, he reminds us that we are part of the same creation. For consecrated life, this is an opportunity to discern how this legacy can be embodied in the realities of our time.

An invitation to religious communities

In this centenary year, we feel invited not simply to remember Francis, but to allow his witness to challenge us:

• What choice could make our communities more fraternal?
• Where are we called to be a presence of reconciliation?
• What change in our way of life could express greater care for people and for our common home?

In this way, the anniversary will cease to be merely the remembrance of a story that began eight centuries ago and become an impetus to open, together, new paths of Gospel life.