English Issue 38/2026

On October 3, 1226, Francis of Assisi died in his small chapel just outside the city gates. Free from material possessions and from the longing for recognition and knowledge, he lived in harmony with nature and his fellow human beings in need. Eight hundred years later, a term has emerged in socio-ecological discourse: in the restroom of a French organic grocery store, I read their house rules on “convivialité” (from the Latin “convivere,” to live together). What enables us today to empathize with trees, wolves, lambs, larks, water, air, earth, strangers, enemies, those in need of spiritual care, and the poor? What was done in the Middle Ages in honor of God concerns our collective existence today. Love must become life. Francis is a role model for this.