Breaking News: Franciscans elect American as Minister General

Following the recent appointment of Father José Rodríguez Carballo, then Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, as Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Religious Life, the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the various language groups within the Order met today in Rome to elect a new Minister General.

The sons of Saint Francis of Assisi have elected the Vicar General of the Order, Father Michael Perry, a native of Indianapolis and a member of the Sacred Heart Province out of St. Louis, Missouri.

I am happy to count many of these friars as my friends - in fact, the Bishop and I just recently stayed with four of them in Quincy - and I warmly congratulate them and promise my prayers for them and especially for Father Michael as he assumes his new responsibilities.