TO THE BROTHERS OF THE IESUS CARITAS PRIESTLY FRATERNITY AROUND THE WORLD
Dear brothers,
from 6 to 21 May 2025, we gathered at the Mons. Aguirre Retreat House in Buenos Aires, 34 delegates from fraternities in 21 countries in Africa, America, Asia and Europe, under the theme: PRIESTS OF IESUS CARITAS, WITNESSES AND FORGERS OF PRIESTLY AND UNIVERSAL FRATERNITY, to hold the 12th General Assembly of our Fraternity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank, first of all, our Argentinian brothers for their warm welcome and their readiness in introducing to us the people and culture of their country. We will not forget the cultural evening, the trip to the Delta of Paraná River, the visit to the centre of Buenos Aires and to the shrine of Our Lady of Luján. We would also like to express our gratitude to the various parishes that welcomed us on Sunday 11th with great faith, love and tenderness, to Monsignor Guillermo Caride, Bishop of San Isidro, who visited us, and to the members of our spiritual family who came to share their experiences.
We feel similar gratitude towards our brothers and sisters who enlightened us with their presentations on the reality of the Church in Argentina, the pontificate of Pope Francis, fraternity in the New Testament, in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, and in the life and apostolate of Saint Charles de Foucauld. These are topics that remain available to the fraternities for their own study and reflection which are published on the website iesuscaritas.org. A special thank you to the outgoing International Team Eric LOZADA, Fernando TAPIA, Honoré SAVADOGO, Tony LLANES and Matthias KEIL for their closeness and service to the brothers during these six years and for the good organisation of this Assembly.
A WOUNDED WORLD
In a world wounded by divisions, polarisations, ambitions for power and the violence of wars, the message on Universal Fraternity is more necessary than ever. Pope Francis understood this. His words and gestures demonstrate it. We therefore, feel a strong call to be witnesses and builders of fraternity both in our presbyteria and in the societies and cultures in which each of us is present, through greater closeness and service to the poor, migrants, the marginalised and victims of all kinds of abuse. We know that they are the ones who suffer most from the lack of fraternity.
FRATERNITY IS POSSIBLE
Fraternity is possible! We have experienced this in this Assembly despite the diversity of languages, cultures and pastoral experiences. Each day has been marked by praying together the Lauds, Adoration and the celebration of Eucharist, which has allowed us to live these days in a climate of attentive listening, understanding, joy, acceptance and dialogue. This is how we have been able to share our personal stories, reflect on the topics presented, listen attentively to the reports presented and work on our Statutes and our Directory.
OUR FRATERNITIES
The reports we have heard have shown us that in several countries in Europe and America our fraternities are ageing. This is not the case in Africa and Asia. We must therefore give more spiritual and financial support to the fraternities on both continents. In the countries of Europe and America, we need to renew our efforts to make Brother Charles de Foucauld known in our presbyteries and invite priests, deacons and seminarians to join our Fraternity. We therefore feel a strong call to found new fraternities and to reawaken those that are dormant.
To do this, we need a great deal of creativity and greater fidelity to the charism of Brother Charles and to the means of spiritual growth that our Fraternity has. Our witness of a simple, fraternal, joyful and committed life with the poor, which springs from our close relationship with the Risen Christ, will always be the best way to attract new members to our fraternities. We are convinced that Brother Charles’ spirituality, centered on the Gospel and the Eucharist, celebrated and adored, is the spirituality that has ongoing relevance.
THE ELECTION OF LEO XIV
During our Assembly, the conclave was held in Rome to elect a new successor to Peter, Pope Leo XIV. Far from distracting us, his election has confirmed us in the path which the Holy Spirit is guiding his Church: a renewed missionary impulse, an ever greater commitment to justice and peace, and a greater participation of all the baptised in the life of the Church. We believe that fraternity is expressed in the synodal way of living our faith and our belonging to the Church, which is why we feel called to promote this ecclesial style in our parishes, Christian communities, movements and other pastoral settings in which we carry out our ministry.
REVISED VERSION OF OUR STATUTES AND DIRECTORY
We have devoted much time during this Assembly for the updating of our statutes and the directory for the development of our fraternities throughout the world. We have made valuable reflections and contributions and have finally approved them. They will be presented to the Dicastery for the Clergy and subsequently disseminated and studied by our brothers in the different countries where we are present. These documents will help us to have a clearer identity and give greater relevance to the witness and writings of Brother Charles.
MEETING OF YOUNG PRIESTS OF OUR FRATERNITY
During our Assembly, we experienced the richness of cultural and pastoral diversity. We would like the young priests of our Association (under 45 years of age) to have a similar experience that will inspire them to follow our beloved Brother and Lord Jesus more closely, in the footsteps of Brother Charles de Foucauld. We entrust the organisation of this meeting to the new international team, with the spiritual and financial support of all our fraternities.
NEW INTERNATIONAL TEAM
During the Assembly, we elected our brother Carlos Roberto DOS SANTOS (Brazil) as the new International Responsible, and he, in turn, formed his team: Roberto (Tino) FERRARI (Argentina), Mark MERTES (USA), Boris SCHLÜSSEL (Switzerland) and Louis Edmond ESSEYI A GNADAM (Cameroon). He has also asked Eric LOZADA (Philippines) to be his delegate for Asia and Yves de MALLMANN (France) to help with the maintenance of the archives. We thank all of them for accepting this service. We offer them our fraternal support and we ask the Lord Jesus to sustain them with his grace and our Lady of Luján to watch over them.
Eric LOZADA
for the delegates to the 12th General Assembly of the IESUS CARITAS Priestly Fraternity.
Buenos Aires, 20 May 2025
document is available at the web iesuscaritas.org
