Lourdes (France), 11/13/2016, Redaction.- Sr. Veronique Margron was elected as president of the Conference of Religious in France (Corref) on Saturday, November 12, at Lourdes. The 59 year old religious has been Provincial Superior in France since 2013.

Sr. VéroniqueSr. Veronique Margron was born at Dakar (Senegal) in 1957; in 1981 she was certified to work for the judicial protection of youth and worked with young delinquents for six years. She entered our Congregation, the Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Presentation in 1989 (perpetual profession) and did her theological studies at the “Institut Catholique de Paris”. After working under the direction of the Salesian theologian Xavier Thévenot (1938-2004), she defended her doctoral thesis in moral theology under the direction of Fr. Bruno Cadoré op, now Master of the Order.

Sister Veronique, a moral theologian and former dean of the faculty of theology in Angers, works on issues related to existential questions -solitude, suffering...- questions on affectivity and the end of life. In October 2016, the Radio France Culture had set apart for her a series of talks entitled « A voix nue » (Open voice). She specially gave witness to the "éthique de la conversation" (ethics of conversation), recalling mainly her meetings with those who are committed to serve in palliative care in France and Belgium.

The Conference of Religious of France gathers 450 French institutes and monasteries. It was created in the year 2008, when the Conference of Major Superiors of Women and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in France were unified. Sister Veronique Margron will be the first woman to preside over this assembly. She replaces the now past President Br. Jean Pierre Longeat, obs, Father Abbot emeritus of the Abbey of Ligugé, founded by St Martin of Tours. Sister Veronique Margron will be supported by two Vice-presidents: Fr. Marc Botzung (Spiritain) and Fr. Daniel Federspiel (Salesian of Don Bosco).

The Congregation rejoices wholeheartedly at this election at the service of Religious Life in France and the Church and assures Sister Véronique of her support for fraternal friendship and prayer.