FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2024
Contact: Theresa Carson, (847) 412-1606
This week, Rev. Anselmo Ricardo Ribeiro SVD, who was elected the Society of the Divine Word’s worldwide leader last summer, will visit the United States.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Father Ribeiro, 50, is the mission congregation’s first South American-born superior general in its 149-year history. As the Society of the Divine Word’s 13th superior general, he leads the congregation’s almost 6,000 priests and brothers.
“His leadership will aim to address the world’s wounds and cries for healing, following a path of creative and faithful discipleship,” stated the announcement from the Generalate.
During the SVD General Assembly in July, more than 100 voting delegates meditated on the essential qualities for their new leader. They expressed the need for a man who is prayerful, visionary, understanding, humble, open-minded and a team player, among other qualities.
“He recognizes the personal gifts of each confrere and puts them into proper ministry positions,” said Father Milan Knezovic SVD, who received his education in the United States and has served in the Brazil-North Province since his 2011 ordination. “He always emphasized the importance of missionary spirituality both to the members of the province, as well as to our lay collaborators and parish members.”
When asked what skills make Father Ribeiro an especially effective leader, Father Knezovic, who currently serves as mission secretary for all of Brazil, replied, “His ability to listen, to comprehend, to counsel and to create relationships.”
Father Ribeiro became a member of the Society of the Divine Word in 1998 and professed vows in 1999. From 2001 to 2004, he completed his Oversea Training Program (OTP) in Mexico before being ordained to the priesthood in Brazil in 2005.
In addition to pastoral ministries at Paróquia São Sebastião in Três Rios and Instituto Missionário São Miguel in Antônio Carlos, he was rector of Comunidade do Verbo Divino in Juiz de Fora, Brazil.
Father Ribeiro served as a provincial councilor in the Brazil-North Province from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, he was elected to a three-year term as provincial of the Brazil-North Province and reelected in 2014.
He also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the PANAM Zone, which encompasses South and North America. In 2018, he was chosen as a councilor on the General Counsel at the Generalate in Rome.
As superior general, Father Ribeiro succeeds Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden as the missionary order’s worldwide spiritual and administrative leader.
In May, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Kleden as ordinary of Ende, Indonesia. The archbishop celebrated his episcopal ordination in August.
Divine Word Missionaries live and work in more than 80 countries, providing services that range from pastoral care in remote areas to building schools and medical clinics and developing social programs that offer food, clothing and shelter.