Mother Teresa nuns elect new superior general

Sister M Joseph, an Indian, has been elected as the new superior general of the Missionaries of Charity congregation, founded by Nobel laureate Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

She succeeds Sister Mary Prema (Pierick), a German, who headed the order for the past 13 years.

 According to the Missionaries of Charity sources, the election took place at the congregation head quarter—Mother House in Kolkata, eastern India, on March 13.

At present, Sister Joseph is the superior of the congregation’s Kerala region, south India.

The new leader’s team members better known as general councilors include Sisters Christina, Cecile, Maria Juan and Patrick.

The Albanian-born Saint Mother Teresa founded the congregation in 1950 under the Archdiocese of Calcutta, eastern India.

Late Sister Nirmala Joshi of Nepalese origin succeeded Mother Teresa from 1997 to 2009. From 2009, Sister Mary Prema headed the renowned Catholic religious congregation till March 13, 2022. 

In 1952, the Indian government permitted her to open a house to serve Calcutta’s poor. Currently, the organization has hundreds of houses worldwide and its membership includes nuns and brothers and priests, besides a lay organization.

With more than 4,500 members, the congregation runs orphanages, AIDS nursing homes, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless victims of floods, epidemics and famine.

Mother Teresa became world-famous for her work. She died in September 1997 and Pope Francis canonized her in 2016 as St. Teresa of Calcutta.