First Asian Elected to Head Pauline Congregation

ROME: In an unprecedented move, the General Chapter Delegates elected the first Asian to head the congregation of the Daughters of St Paul recently.

On 1 Oct 2025, Sr Mari Lucia Kim of South Korea was elected as the superior general for term 2025-2031 at the 12^th General Chapter held Sept 7 to Oct 7 at Ariccia Rome.  She was the first Asian to hold the post as her predecessors were mostly Italians or of Italian descent.

Sr Lucia was born on 1 Nov 1965 in Mokpo, South Korea.  She has been a Daughter of St Paul since 1995.  She has carried out various apostolic assignments and was a general councillor from 2013-2019.  At the time of election, she was the provincial superior of South Korea.

The six councillors elected Oct 3 are: Sr Gabriella Collesei (Italian), Sr Bruna Fregni (Italian), Sr Donald Maria Lynch (American), Sr Rosemary Mueni Mwaiwa (Kenyan), Sr Micaela Pae (Korean), Sr Rosa Maria Ramalho (Brazilian).

In their audience with Pope Leo XIV Oct 2, he told the chapter delegates: To proclaim and spread the Word, spending your life for the cause of the Gospel following Jesus the Master and seeking ways, tools and languages so that everyone may know and follow the Lord: this is the heart of your apostolate.  Faced with the challenges of our time, this needs to be renewed and reinvigorated, so that the evangelical passion that inspires you may find its best expression.

Following the theme of the General Chapter “Impelled by the fire of the Spirit, listening to contemporary humanity, we communicate the Gospel of hope,” the pope recommended them two attitudes to take: to look up and immerse themselves.   Indeed, while the proclamation of the Gospel remains at the centre of the mission, it is equally true that it is not a question of communicating generic information or abstract truth, but of entering into real history, welcoming the questions and concerns raised by real life, speaking the languages of the women and men of our times.

He concluded by reminding the Sisters: We must be vigilant to ensure no separation between what we preach and our daily lives.  Only in this way will you remain faithful to the method of wholeness desired by your Founder for the entire Pauline Family: Way, Truth and Life; Mind, Will and Heart.  Then this unifying proposal, which appears prophetic in a fragmented world, will be coherent and credible. – Sr Anna Yap fsp