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One month after they elected Alfonso Nicolás to succeed Peter-Hans Kolvenbach as the Jesuits’ superior general, the delegates of the 35th General Congregation gathered, at the pontiff’s invitation, in the Vatican’s Sala Clementina. There, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the men with words of gratitude. He states, “I very much hope, therefore, that the entire Society […]

Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, delivered the following remarks, over three days, to open the Jesuits’ 34th General Congregation. Kolvenbach reminds the delegates that their gathering had its “source and origins in the spiritual experience of Ignatius and his first companions,” that, in the words of Ignatius, theirs was “a

 The 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus opened on January 5, 1995, with a Mass at the Church of the Holy Spirit, located across from the Jesuits’ Curia in Rome. At noon that same day, the delegates proceeded to the Vatican’s Sala Clementina for an audience with Pope John Paul II. To the

At the Mass opening the 33rd General Congregation, Pope John Paul II offered the following homily. The pontiff declares a special interest in the Jesuits’ gathering, as the “General Congregation is an event that is destined also to have some important repercussions in the life of the Church.” He remained at the Jesuits’ Curia (or

At the 33rd General Congregation, Fr. Paolo Dezza offered the following remarks in accepting the resignation of Pedro Arrupe as superior general. Arrupe had suffered a debilitating stroke in 1981. Dezza extends, on behalf of Jesuits everywhere, “an official and public expression of the Society’s esteem, affection, and gratitude” to Arrupe. Arrupe was the first

At a Mass at La Storta, these remarks were read on behalf of Pedro Arrupe. General Congregation 33 marked 18 years that Arrupe had served as superior general, and the Mass was “a farewell and a conclusion” for Arrupe, who had suffered a debilitating stroke in August 1981.  For more sources from Arrupe, please visit The Arrupe

Arrupe suffered a debilitating stroke in August 1981, during his sixteenth year as superior general of the Society of Jesus. Rejecting Arrupe’s preferred replacement, Pope John Paul II appointed Paolo Dezza as the Jesuits’ interim superior until a general congregation could gather to elect Arrupe’s replacement. Greeting the delegates, Arrupe was confined to a wheelchair

General Congregation 32 signified a major transition in how the Jesuits understood the connection between their mission and the service of faith and promotion of social justice. That connection was articulated in the congregation’s fourth decree, “Our Mission Today.” “In short,” as the decree’s introduction observes, “our mission today is to preach Jesus Christ and

At the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Jesuits, as with other Catholics, engaged in new labors and in new contexts. The Council’s decree Perfectae Caritatis encouraged those in a religious order to first know their institute’s “original spirit” so that they might make “the best adjustments…in accordance with the needs of our new

Pope Paul VI addressed the delegates to the 32nd General Congregation on December 3, 1974, noting similar “joy and trepidation” to when the last congregation began nearly a decade before. Looking to the assembled Jesuits, the pontiff declares, “there is in you and there is in us the sense of a moment of destiny for