71st Congregation of Procurators, Loyola, 2023
For the first time in Jesuit history, a Congregation of Procurators will meet in Asia.
Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ has formally convoked the 72nd Congregation of Procurators to be held in Indonesia in October 2027. This gathering continues the recent pattern of holding the Congregation of Procurators in different parts of the world, following the meetings in Loyola, Spain, in 2023 and Nairobi, Kenya, in 2012. Holding the next assembly in Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, highlights the growth of the local church and the need to engage thoughtfully with pluralistic, multifaith societies.
“In a nation shaped by Pancasila (Indonesia’s Five Principles) and a Muslim majority, the Indonesian Church witnesses through presence, service, and trust-building across differences,” says Fr Greg Soetomo SJ, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Coordinator for Dialogue with Islam. He notes that the local church contributes to a spirituality of encounter, where Christian identity is deepened rather than diluted by pluralism. Fr Soetomo reflects:
“Discernment today must listen not only to the Spirit within the Church but also to God already at work in other traditions, cultures, and the shared struggles of humanity.”
Fr General Sosa, who is set to visit Indonesia for the second time at the end of July this year, has emphasised the Society’s commitment “to live out the process of allowing itself to be guided by the Holy Spirit in order to respond more effectively to its mission of reconciliation and justice”.
The 72nd Congregation of Procurators will bring together one elected delegate (a procurator) from each Jesuit province and a relator from each region or mission. Together, they will reflect on the “state of the Society” and the universal direction of the Jesuit mission. Their two formal tasks are to decide whether to summon a General Congregation (the highest governing body of the Society) and discuss structural matters for advancing the apostolic mission.
The congregation begins on the afternoon of 11 October and is expected to last about six days. Delegates are asked to arrive before 6 October for a preparatory retreat, which Fr Sosa describes as a time to “scrutinise more deeply the signs by which the Holy Spirit is guiding the Society”.
In preparation, each province, region, and mission will hold an assembly to elect its procurator or relator and assess their state of Jesuit life and mission. To ground their reflection, the elected delegates are asked to visit communities and apostolic works in their region and write a report on their observations, focusing on how the three “lenses” of discernment, collaboration, and networking are shaping the Society’s work in ministries such as schools and universities, ministries to refugees, parishes, retreat houses, communications, research, and interreligious dialogue.
Elected procurators and relators must submit their reports to the General Curia by 1 March 2027, providing Father General with a comprehensive picture of the Society’s global situation before the Congregation convenes.
This practice of visiting, listening, and gathering local experiences before the delegates meet as a body is a long-standing Jesuit way of preparing for a Congregation of Procurators, and it reflects the synodal approach of walking together, listening, and discerning that is now at the heart of the Catholic Church’s renewal.
