• At the request of Very Reverend Father José Angulo, Minister General of the Third Order Regular of St Francis, in the name of the Ministers General of the Franciscan Families and of the International Council of the Secular Franciscan Order, English translation was approved on August 5, 1985 by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship. The Prefect was Joseph Cardinal Casoria and the secretary was Most Rev Dr. Vergilius Noè, Tit. Archb. of Voncaria. They have approved it by virtue of the faculties given by the then Supreme Pontiff john Paul II. So the present ritual is approved by the church. This is the Ritual for the use of Secular Franciscans throughout the world.

• The Church has always esteemed highly “Secular Franciscan” form of life prompted by the Holy Spirit “for the good of the Church and the human community”. (Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Letter “Seraphicus Patriarcha” (24 June 1978). By means of the rules approved by the Supreme Pontiffs Nicholas IV, Leo XIII and Paul VI, the Church has made sure that this form of life is suitably adapted to her needs and expectations in the conditions of changing times.
   

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