Brother Hilton Farias de Souza re-elected Provincial of the Province of the Holy Cross in Brazil

The friars of the Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross in Brazil, meeting in Provincial Chapter from 4 to 10 January 2022 in Santos Dumont (Minas Gerais) re-elected Br Hilton Farias de Souza as Provincial and Br Gabriel José de Lima Neto as Vicar Provincial. The following were elected to the office of Provincial Definitors: Br Arlaton Luiz Soares de Oliveira, Br Valter Pinto Vieira Júnior, Br Adilson Corrêa da Silva and Br Oton da Silva Araújo Júnior. For the next three years, the capitulars approved the province’s priorities: the protection of vulnerable people, care for creation (agroecology, sustainability, alternative energy production) and "in the formation of brothers and lay people who must evangelise together with the correct use of new digital media and to be witnesses of hope for our time". Br Hilton was born in Caraí (Araçuaí), in the State of Minas Gerias. He took his first vows in 1991, solemn vows in 1996 and was ordained a priest on 18 April 1998. This election marks his second term in the office of Provincial. The Chapter was presided over by Br Reginaldo Rômulo Monte Canto, Visitator General, of the Autonomous Custody of St Benedict in Amazonia, Brazil.