On the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the faithful gathered at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, to honor the beloved Italian saint and celebrate the 800th anniversary of the approval of the Rule of St. Francis (1223) and the creation of the Nativity scene in Greccio.

Franciscan Friar Marco Moroni welcomed the crowd made up of religious people, representatives of the Italian government, civil and military authorities, and pilgrims from the Aosta Valley, a region in Italy that was chosen to donate the oil for the lamp burning before the tomb of St. Francis this year. 

“St. Francis, who loved to call himself ‘little one,’ allows us to welcome you all here in the basilica, and that gives me great pleasure indeed,” Friar Marco said.

Friar Marco also shared a message from Pope Francis for the occasion. The Holy Father sent his warm regards to all those gathered in Assisi and asked for their prayers.

“I send warm greetings to you and to the gathered friars and to the faithful and administrators of the Aosta Valley gathered in Assisi. I pray for you; please do it for me. May the Lord bless you and may Our Lady keep you,” the Holy Father wrote.

Friar Marco recalled the first visit of Pope Francis to Assisi in 2013, when he was first elected pope. 

“Since that Oct. 4, 2013, first trip to Assisi, the world has changed. We are going through a change of epoch on a social, economic, political and ecclesial level: We see signs of positive novelties, but also the persistence and perhaps the increase of so many issues,” Friar Marco recalled. 

He added: “First and foremost the inability to end conflicts and the use of violence and weapons, the reassertion of a mentality that privileges self-interest at the individual social and international levels, an anthropological change that highlights a loss of family values, and the sacredness of the person from his mother’s womb to the natural end of his days.”

The Franciscan friar called on St. Francis to “intercede so that in this changing era we may know how to welcome from the Lord the gift of a good and beautiful life, of a capacity for friendship and sharing, of a great love for humanity.”

“As we celebrate the solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi, we realize not only his holiness, which is a gift for the whole Church, but also of his being a brother and guide for those who sincerely seek to build a new world — more just, more fraternal, more respectful of the dignity and freedom of every human being,” said the minister general, Friar Carlos Alberto Trovarelli in his welcome speech.

Friar Carlos urged peace “to rise once again from Assisi, the city of peace, fraternity and social friendship, as Pope Francis teaches, in favor of all the existential and urban peripheries of our nation.”

The friar called the 800th anniversaries being celebrated “an opportunity to rediscover the spiritual and cultural heritage that St. Francis of Assisi left for Italy and the world” and hoped that “his universal message of fraternity and peace continues to shine in the Church and in the world, to contribute to the growth of the civilization of love also in our time.”