ASSISI, Italy (CNS) — Spanish Father Jose Rodriguez
Carballo was re-elected to head the Franciscan order during a general chapter
May 24-June 20 in Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of St. Francis. Father
Carballo, 55, was elected to a second six-year term as minister general of the
Order of Friars Minor June 4. Some 152 representatives of the order reconfirmed
the Spanish friar during the Assisi meeting as the leader of the 15,000
Franciscans who live in 113 countries. Father Carballo is the 119th successor of
St. Francis and will lead the Order of the Friars Minor until 2015. The
delegates will celebrate the 800th anniversary of the founding of their order
June 9. Father Carballo told reporters at the end of May that during the
general chapter the delegates were looking at how well the order has met the
priorities set in 2003 for deepening spirituality, improving fraternal life and
living as poor among the poor and in solidarity with all those in need. Second,
he said, they would try to find new ways to meet the challenge of being
missionaries in the modern world.