No Room for St. Francis

St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century saint-for-all-seasons who founded the Order of Friars Minor, loved the term brother so much that he used it to address all God's creatures. Indeed, his ragged band of followers was at the beginning composed almost entirely of brothers--members of a religious order who are not ordained--and Francis himself chose never to become a priest. Yet for centuries the Franciscans have been governed only by priests, with brothers relegated to minor positions.

In 1967, a worldwide Franciscan general chapter meeting in Assisi voted to end that discrimination. The order's General Constitutions were amended to specify that "all solemnly professed friars are eligible for the offices and positions of the order." Consequently, Franciscans assumed that a brother henceforth could advance to any job, conceivably even to the office of minister general of the order itself.

Last November, after pondering the issue for two years, the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for Religious ruled otherwise. Brothers may occupy some positions of increased responsibility, said the Congregation's decree, but "nonclerical members cannot exercise the office of superior or vicar, either on the general, provincial or local level." A curial official contended that even Vatican II documents forbade brothers from holding positions over priests, but some angry Franciscans are now arguing that such a provision should not apply to their order. If it did, they reason, Founder Francis himself might today be barred from heading it.

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