The triennial chapter of the General Commissariat of Portugal was held 31-23 April in Hotel Casa São Nuno in Fatima. The theme of the chapter – echoing the theme of the General Chapter in 2025 – was: “You Must Do Some Work” (Rule 20). Our Contemplative Fraternity Discerns Its Mission in Portugal. Before the chapter, the preparatory commission did a lot of work synthesizing the reflections of the friars and the communities, as well as putting together the various proposals for the chapter to consider.

The afternoon before the chapter began, the members were led in a reflection guided by the Father José Antunes, missionary of the Divine Word, under the theme, “International Religious Communities.”

In opening the Chapter, Desiderio García Martínez, O.Carm., the prior general, encouraged the friars to rediscover the beauty of the Carmelite charism especially with regard to our interior life. On the second day of the Chapter, the Prior General gave a presentation building further on the theme of spiritual renewal.

During the Chapter Altamiro Tenório da Paz was elected Commissary General and Agostinho Marques de Castro, Fernando Manuel Afonso Araújo, João Manuel Oliveira da Costa and Pedro José Martins Monteiro were elected Councillors.

The Portuguese Commissariat has been a long time and very generous supporter of the young Carmelites in Timor-Leste. We congratulate and wish the new Council well in its ministry.