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In a letter to Arrupe during General Congregation 32, Pope Paul VI reiterates his desire that “no change can be introduced to the fourth vow” taken by the Jesuits. He continues that the Jesuits’ superior general to encourage “yet deeper reflection on your responsibilities, and on your great potentialities as well as on the dangers […]

The Cardinal of State, replying to Pedro Arrupe, provided the responses of Pope Paul VI to the decrees of the 32nd General Congregation. After “carefully” examining the decrees, the pontiff found some “somewhat confusing and could, because of the way they are expressed, give grounds for misinterpretation.” Therefore, Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot provides Arrupe with Paul VI’s “Particular

Before the delegates to the 31st General Congregation set out “for the four corners of the world,” Pope Paul VI welcomed the Jesuits to the Sistine Chapel. His remarks urge the delegates “to renew in [their] hearts in an almost palpable and solemn way the sense of the apostolic mandate that characterizes and strengthens your

The members of the 31st General Congregation issued the following statement to Pope Paul VI at the closing of more than 140 days of sessions. The statement notes how the delegates had “taken care to adapt our laws to the new needs of our times” while trying “to renew and encourage the religious life of

The delegates of the 31st General Congregation gathered, in part, to select the successor to Jean-Baptiste Janssens as the 28th superior general. In these remarks before the congregation, Pope Paul VI believes that the next general would “take every care to ensure that your harmony be not disrupted by discordant voices, but rather that you

Pope Pius XII wrote the following apostolic blessing to Jean-Baptiste Janssens, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Ignatius. The pope urges those in the Society to “carry forward with untiring earnestness, especially in the spiritual sphere, all your activities, your ministries and everything by

Wlodimir (Włodzimierz) Ledóchowski, the superior general of the Jesuits, delivered this address to Pope Pius XII as part of a celebration in Rome’s Hall of Benediction to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Jesus. Also present were people selected to represent the Society “in miniature,” individuals from the Jesuits’ various

In July 1940, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of Jesus, Pope Pius XII issued the following apostolic letter to Wlodimir (Włodzimierz) Ledóchowski. Pius notes to the superior general how the Catholic Church “is deeply indebted to your religious society for its glorious record of service.” The letter chronicles some

Mutio Vitelleschi, born to a noble family in Rome in 1563, entered the Society of the Jesus only after securing permission from Pope Gregory XIII. The Jesuits elected Vitelleschi their sixth superior general in 1615. His generalate saw worldwide expansion in missions and in membership to some 15,000 men but also an increase in the

Francis Borgia, in this letter to the Jesuits in Aquitania, in the southwest of France, provides advice on how best to preserve the spirit of the Society of Jesus. The order’s “rapid growth” reminded Borgia of how “the little grain of mustard,” once “fixing its roots” and “sending forth its branch and steam,” could become