Franciscan head is new president of Union of Superiors General

November 26, 2012 - The head of the Franciscan order worldwide has been elected the new president of the Union of Superiors General (USG), that comprises heads of the Catholic Church’s male religious orders and congregations. Fr Jose Rodriguez Carballo, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor will lead the USG for the next three years, taking over from Salesian Rector Major, Fr. Pascual Chavez. The USG General Assembly elected the new president on Thursday following its half-yearly assembly in Rome, Nov. 21-23. Fr Carballo, a 59-year old Spaniard has been a Franciscan since 1971 and was ordained a priest by Pope Paul VI in 1977. He was first elected Minister General of the Friars Minor in 2003, and re-elected again in 2009. He is also a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. After his election as USG president, Fr- Carballo pointed to the goals which in his opinion consecrated life should strive for today: to let oneself be evangelized to be able, in turn, to evangelize, to seek God first of all, to be with the poor, to take seriously today's challenges that come from ecology, from the defence of human rights, and from justice and peace. The new USG vice-president is Jesuit superior general, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, also of Spain.