Saint Francis of Assisi Church

This guide to Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Panama City asks what it takes to make a ruined building holy again, tracing the church back to Franciscan friars who settled here in sixteen seventy-three after fleeing Henry Morgan's raid on Panama Viejo. It follows the fires of seventeen thirty-seven and seventeen fifty-six, the 1918 rebuilding that raised the bell tower over Plaza Bolivar, and the long closure that began in 2004. Along the way you'll learn why couples still choose to marry here after the one o'clock Sunday mass. Listen for the acoustics inside, prized for their warmth and lack of echo.