(OSV News) ─ A stone from the Porziuncola, the small church in Italy where St. Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscan order and where he died 800 years ago, arrived in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia announced Feb. 9 that the stone relic was donated by the Friars Minor of the Seraphic Province of Umbria and Sardinia.
The relic, which was given to Bishop Paolo Martinelli, apostolic vicar of Southern Arabia, while he was attending a conference in Assisi, the vicariate said.
The stone from the Porziuncola, which is located inside the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, was preserved during restoration work following the 1997 earthquake that struck Assisi.
To make the relic suitable for public veneration, it was encased in a custom reliquary.
"Receiving a stone from the Porziuncola means welcoming into our local Church a living memory of St. Francis' encounter with God," Bishop Martinelli said.
Its presence in the vicariate, the bishop said, "strengthens our vocation to be a Church of dialogue and encounter."
The relic's arrival coincides with the special Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.
In his Jan. 10 decree proclaiming the yearlong celebration until Jan. 10, 2027, Pope Leo expressed his hope that the Jubilee would be an opportunity for Christians to follow St. Francis' example and become models "of holiness of life."
Catholics in the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia ─ a territory covering the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, as well as Oman and Yemen ─ are mostly comprised of foreign workers and migrants.
"In a land where Christians come from many nations and cultures," Bishop Martinelli noted, "this relic reminds us that the Gospel of peace, humility, and fraternity is always concrete and universal."
According to the vicariate, the stone's presence holds particular significance in the region as a "thread of memory" that recalls the meeting between St. Francis and Sultan Malik al-Kamil in Damietta, Egypt, in 1219.
"If Francis once crossed borders guided only by faith, humility, and the desire for peace, now the Porziuncola itself symbolically reaches the Gulf as a sign that the seed of fraternity planted centuries ago continues to grow," the vicariate said.
The vicariate said Bishop Martinelli will bring the relic during his pastoral visits to parishes in the territory, beginning at Holy Spirit Parish in Ghala, Muscat, in Oman, from Feb. 12-15.
The relic will then move to parishes across the UAE throughout 2026, coinciding with the Franciscan centenary celebrations.
The vicariate serves more than 1 million Catholics in the region, most of whom are expatriate workers from the Philippines, India, and various African and European nations.
- - -
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
