Pope Leo XIV on the loggia after his election | Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar
Superior General Fr Arturo Sosa SJ expressed joy at the election of Pope Leo XIV, assuring the new pontiff of the support and collaboration of the Society of Jesus.
In his letter addressed to the whole Society, Fr Sosa draws inspiration from this Easter season, particularly the Gospel scene where the risen Christ entrusts the Apostle Peter with the care of the Church. He highlights that the source of Peter’s mission and that of his successors is the unconditional love of the Father, that Jesus fulfilled the Father’s redemptive will, and that he entrusted his disciples with the ongoing mission of spreading the Good News, with the Holy Spirit as their inspirer and counsellor.
“The Petrine ministry thus plays a key role in animating the service of the Church to the redemptive mission of the Lord Jesus in all the complex situations of human history,” says Fr General Sosa.
Pope Leo XIV’s election, he notes, is an opportunity for the Society of Jesus to renew a distinctive aspect of the Ignatian charism: the willingness to receive from the Roman Pontiff a mission in service of the universal Church.
“As my predecessors did with previous Popes, I have communicated to the Holy Father Leo XIV the availability of the Society of Jesus to offer our cooperation wherever and however his universal vision considers we can give the best of what we are today,” he says, assuring Pope Leo XIV of the prayers of every Jesuit.
The Superior General invites the whole Society to take this new chapter in the Church’s history as a moment to renew its commitment to “thinking with the Church” and to seek “creative fidelity to our charism” in serving Christ’s mission today.
On 8 May, Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, 69, was elected Pope, taking the name Leo XIV. He is the first Augustinian Pope and the second Roman Pontiff, after Pope Francis, to come from the Americas.
Related story: Habemus Papam: Cardinal Robert Prevost elected as new Pope, takes the name Pope Leo XIV
