Fr. General
It did not take the 36th General Congregation long. After celebrating Mass in the Church of the Holy Spirit early on Friday, October 14, the 212 electors were locked into the Aula to vote for the next Superior General of the Society of Jesus. Just before lunch, the first news came that the new Superior General is Fr Arturo Sosa Abascal from the Venezuela Jesuit Province.
The resignation of Fr General Adolfo Nicolás on the first day of the 36th General Congregation was a profoundly moving event for all who witnessed this historic moment.
The Jesuit Journey of Adolfo Nicolás
Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ has served as superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2008. He will formally step down next month as Jesuit electors gather in Rome to choose a new leader and deliberate on the future of the order.
Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, spent two weeks in Asia Pacific in January, visiting the Jesuit Chinese Province from January 13 to 16, and the Jesuit Vietnamese Province from January 17 to 25.
At our annual meeting with Fr General in Rome this month, the six Jesuit Conference presidents identified significant strategies that are bearing fruit for greater solidarity among Jesuits and our colleagues globally, and planned new cooperative measures. Since the primary goal of conferences concerns mission, we dealt with questions such as restructuring of governance arrangements, solidarity in sharing resources across the Society, cooperation in the formation of Jesuits and promotion of studies in Ignatian spirituality.
Father Adolfo Nicolás SJ, who has been Superior General of the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus) since 2008, has announced his intention to resign. Having recently reached the age of 78, Fr Nicolás says he has received the approval of his advisers and has informed Pope Francis that he intends to convoke a General Congregation for the latter part of 2016, during which he will formally submit his resignation and his successor will be elected.
Fr General Adolfo Nicolás delivered the opening address at a recent Pontifical Gregorian University event held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo. A former student of Sophia in the 1960s and a former provincial of the Japanese Province, Fr Nicolás spoke on Sophia’s contribution to the mission of the Catholic Church in Asia.
Fr Nicolás urged Japanese Catholics to promote religious sensitivity in their country and not to lose hope because they represent a small minority of the country’s population.
This month we remember Pedro Arrupe, the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus who died on February 5, 1991 aged 83. An incredibly charismatic general, he spent the last 10 years of his life confined in the infirmary, patiently enduring the debilitating effects of a cerebral stroke.
Fr Adolfo Nicolás, Superior General of the Society of Jesus visited the Asia Pacific Conference in January, to attend the Major Superiors Assembly, which was held in Timor Leste.
Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, recently invited every Jesuit, all our collaborators, every community, apostolic work, Region and Province of the Society to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Restoration of the Society in 2014 “with humble and sincere gratitude to the Lord, with a desire to learn from our history, and as an occasion for spiritual and apostolic renewal”.