ROME, MARCH 28, 2008: Fr Maria Arokiam Kanaga was elected Regional of South Asia on the very first ballot. 
He is the very first Regional from the province of Chennai, and he has the distinction of having been Vice Provincial but not Provincial. But as the Rector Major pointed out recently, Fr Vecchi was never a Provincial, and he did well as Councillor for Youth Ministry, Vicar General, and then Rector Major... We wish Fr Maria Arokiam the very best as he begins his arduous task of being philosopher, friend and guide to some 2500 Salesians of South Asia, and close collaborator of the Rector Major. He brings to his job great confidence, a good intellectual preparation, mastery of Italian, and several years of experience of governance. Besides, he is a past pupil of the Mumbai Province, having done his M.Ph. at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, while residing at Koregaon Park. So congratulations, Fr Maria Arokiam, and our prayers and support.
On the East Asia Oceania side, the place vacated by Vaclav Klement was filled by Andrew Wong, Provincial of the North Philippine Province, and earlier superior of the Vice-province of Indonesia-East Timor. Wong is the first East Asian to enter the council, and so makes history.
Natale Vitali of Cile was elected regional of America Southern Cone, once again on the first ballot. Cile had actually requested to opt out of this region, but now that Vitali has been elected regional, there will be second thoughts!
Guilherme Basanes, born in Buenos Aires, brought up in North America, and missionary and Provincial in Angola, was elected in the second ballot as regional of Africa-Madagascar. Basanes is the only member of the pre-capitular commission to have made it to the General Council.
So the general council is taking on the colours of the world... We still have four to go, but that will happen in the afternoon and evening, and by tomorrow afternoon, I have heard that the new general council will meet for the first time.