The International Union of Superiors General (UISG) is an organization that brings together the Superiors General of women’s religious institutes of apostolic life from all over the world. Its mission is to promote communion and collaboration among women’s religious congregations and to provide a space for encounter, reflection, and joint action to respond to the challenges of consecrated life and the universal Church.
UISG Plenary Assembly
Recently, the UISG held its 23rd Plenary ( XXIII Plenary Assembly )in Rome from 29 April to 5 May 2025, under the theme ‘Consecrated Life: A Hope that Transforms’. More than 900 women Superiors General from 75 countries on five continents gathered together to discern ways to move forward as women of religious life, amid a world marked by uncertainty and pain, but also by signs of life and renewal.
At the end of the Assembly, the Superiors General expressed their commitment to become more and more:
- Women of peace, resilient, who stand at the foot of the cross
- Women who stand at the frontiers, who reject exclusion and discrimination
- Women who watch in the night and, like the moon, reflect the light.
- Synodal women who create evangelical and inclusive communities
- Prophetic women who, in old age, illness or frailty, remain signs of hope.
“As women entrusted with the leadership of our congregations, we commit ourselves to nurture hope within ourselves and to pass it on, because “we put all our hope in the grace that comes to us through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:13),” the Assembly’s final statement concludes.
Photos: www.uisg.org
Assembly of the Council of Delegates
Subsequently, on May 12 and 13, the Assembly of the Council of Delegates was convened in Rome, with the participation of more than 45 delegates representing the 36 constellations of the organization.
During the Assembly of Delegates, the election of the members of the new Board of Directors of the UISG, which will lead this International Union of Superiors General in the period 2025- 2028, took place. It was constituted as follows:
- President: Sister Oonah O’Shea, Superior General of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion
- Graciela Francovig, Superior General of the Hijas de Jesus.
Counselors:
- Sr. Miriam Altenhofen – Missionary Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit
- Sr. Anna Josephine D’Souza – Missionary Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate
- Sr. Angela Kapitingana – Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa
- Sr. Dolores Lahr – Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambéry
- Sr. Priscilla Latela – Religious of Mary Immaculate “Claretian Missionary Sisters”.
- Sr. Chiara Lorenzato – Clarist Franciscan Missionaries
- Sr. Sylvette Mané – Sisters of the Congregation of Mary – “Marists”.
- Sr. María Filomena Mendoza – Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
- Sr. María Yaneth Moreno Rodríguez – Sisters of the Divine Savior
- Sr. Rita Calvo – Sisters of the Company of Mary, Our Lady
At the conclusion of the Assembly of Delegates, which marked the end of the 23rd Plenary and the beginning of a new cycle of governance for the UISG – the words of the three Presidents (outgoing, current Presidents, and Vice-President) expressed the spiritual and missionary heart of consecrated life today.
We especially share with you what was expressed by Graciela Francovig, the newly elected Vice President of the UISG, who underlined the value of the historical moment we live in, in harmony with the path of the Church:
“We have lived this Plenary in a historic moment for the Church, marked by the election of the new Pope. We deeply feel the link between our journey and the universal Church: both are called to renewal in the spirit of synodality. As consecrated women, we commit ourselves to nurturing and sustaining this synodal way of life, in the daily life of our Congregations and at the frontiers of the world.”
With this election, Graciela Francovig’s service in the UISG continues. Graciela began as Vice President of the UISG in 2023 and during this new period will work together with the Superiors General of different congregations, encouraging processes of communion, discernment, and transformative hope.
