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Visit to Spain. From October 27th to 30th Father General will be in Spain on the occasion of the closing of the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis Borgia. The visit will begin in Valencia, where there is planned a meeting with the Archbishop, the Jesuits, and with the Arrupe Center, collaborators, relatives and friends on the topic: Collaboration at the Heart of Mission (GC 35, Decree 6). On October 28th he will be in GandÃa, where Francis Borgia was born on October 28, 1510. The day will be dedicated to various official ceremonies and will culminate in a Eucharistic celebration for the closing of the 5th centenary. In the afternoon, he will visit Fontilles, the hospital complex started by the Jesuits as a leprosarium in 1909, which played an essential role in the elimination of leprosy in Spain in the previous century. Today, entrusted to the laity, Fontilles has projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but operates always with the same mission with which it was started: "To take care of people affected by leprosy, providing cure, physical and social rehabilitation, and assistance to other diseases that provoke social exclusion". From October 29th to the 30th he will be in Zaragoza where there are planned numerous visits, with the Bishop, Father Provincial, the Jesuits of Zaragosa and Huesca. At the Pignatelli Center Father General will met the collaborators, family, and friends of the Jesuits, speaking on the topic: Reconciliation and Sending to the Frontiers (GC 35, Decree 3), also referring to St. Joseph Pignatelli, the "restorer" of the Society of Jesus. Next year is the bicentenary of his death.
After his latest visits in Europe, we asked Father General some questions about the condition of the Society of Jesus in Europe. Here are the questions and answers.
Q. You have lived outside of Europe for an extended period. In these past two years you have met with the European provincials, have participated in meetings of the Conference of European Provincials and visited numerous European countries? What has impressed you the most?
A. I have the impression that I have visited very few European countries. The antiquity of everything impresses me: the people (without irony), the buildings, the cultures, the history, the quarrels and mistrust among nations, the fears, and the tensions. Everything is old and everything continues, as if the human past might be as real as the streets of its old cities. Also what impresses me, and not necessarily in a positive way, the great "confidence" that Europeans have in themselves and in their opinions. In Asia these are considered attitudes of arrogance and self-sufficiency. They are understandable attitudes in the European context, however totally unjustifiable in the world context. It is true that Europe knows a great deal, however, it does not know everything, and certainly knows very little about the many worlds as real as old Europe.
Q. After having visited and heard so many things about Europe of today, which seem to you the most important challenges for society and the Society of Jesus?
A. The first challenge that seems to emerge constantly is the secularization of Europe with its reduction of viewpoints and its attachment to the past. It seems to me there is a perception of a slight arrogance in the denial of everything that is not known or understood. It is an actual challenge to live as a Christian and as a human being in such a milieu. Another challenge is how to live in relationship to a European Islam that is developing before our own eyes. How to relate with its followers beginning with fraternity, human acceptance, the necessary helps for all those who may walk creatively in a new harmony. A third challenge seems to me to be the necessity of creating a new language, more artistic, dramatic, flexible, capable of expressing in all its richness, the Christian or simply religious experience for the people of today.
Q. In these almost three years as General of the Society of Jesus, you have visited Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Are there some similarities among the continents with regard to the challenges that the Society must face or do we find ourselves with very different problems?
A. I believe that with equal conviction both things can be said. First, overall differences are impressive. There are enormous differences in context, country, rites, ceremonies, etc. Attention must be given to the differences in the way of thinking, speaking of reality, mentalities, traditions, and cultures... But secondly one must take into account the profound similarities. Each of us in our own places, we all suffer equally, all love and want to be loved in the same way and all develop as persons. In this interchange of similarities and differences, I can state that, as religious and as Jesuits, all of us face the same challenges in order to increase the stature of the Church. All feel called, all desire to respond, all are more or less distracted, and all have similar temptations. All this wants to say that we can live together, develop together, mutually help one another and aspire to the necessary maturity in order to enjoy the variety and the richness that our internationality offers us. To be a Jesuit is not a matter of being a Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Asian, or African. Experience tells us with great eloquence that the call of Christ is equally difficult and equally attractive for all people.
Q. In these days is in progress the Synod for the Church of the Middle East. In a few weeks you will visit Egypt. What for you constitutes the diversity of the ecclesial traditions within the Catholic Church?
A. The diversity of ecclesial tradition means to me many things. Permit me to mention some.
- In the first place, the great richness of Christian experience, its history and traditions; the profundity of the spiritualities that have developed in the Christian East. The people of the Mideast are, in my opinion, people who have suffered a great deal throughout history, and the suffering is one of the most definite sources of spirituality and of depth of feeling and thinking.
- This plurality also has a wealth of opportunities. The entire Church and all the churches have here great depths for religious life and spirituality to which they go to as sources of wisdom and spiritual intuition. In dialogue with these churches we can learn a new ecumenism. We can learn to feel ourselves united as brothers and sisters without the necessity that we be in agreement about every single detail. We can deepen our union of hearts and of faith in the midst of the diversity of rites, forms, and devotions. And I believe that also we have here an opportunity to redo continually our theological language inspired by the ever Christian variety of our new forms of living and celebrating.
- Naturally this diversity has its challenges. How to change our perspectives in a way that we all together pay more attention to learning a common future than to the differences that mark our past? How can we help one another so our more normal concern would be in service of the other, especially the poor, and not so much social or political influence. Of course another great challenge presents the necessity of encountering ways of reconciliation with all our neighbors, that could be an eloquent testimony of the love of God in Christ that is at the center of our faith. Finally as we develop our communities of faith we must keep ourselves always aware of human suffering, above every other consideration.
- To sum up, the diversity that we experience in these days and that represents many disperse communities of the world is an invitation to learn a Christian history that knows a great deal about suffering, fidelity, difficulties and also imperfection. Also it is an invitation to reflect on the great depth of faith and of hope that unite us. Lastly it is an invitation to discern the Christian ways of communion, service and hope.
After his latest visits in Europe, we asked Father General some questions about the condition of the Society of Jesus in Europe. Here are the questions and answers.
Q. You have lived outside of Europe for an extended period. In these past two years you have met with the European provincials, have participated in meetings of the Conference of European Provincials and visited numerous European countries? What has impressed you the most?
A. I have the impression that I have visited very few European countries. The antiquity of everything impresses me: the people (without irony), the buildings, the cultures, the history, the quarrels and mistrust among nations, the fears, and the tensions. Everything is old and everything continues, as if the human past might be as real as the streets of its old cities. Also what impresses me, and not necessarily in a positive way, the great "confidence" that Europeans have in themselves and in their opinions. In Asia these are considered attitudes of arrogance and self-sufficiency. They are understandable attitudes in the European context, however totally unjustifiable in the world context. It is true that Europe knows a great deal, however, it does not know everything, and certainly knows very little about the many worlds as real as old Europe.
Q. After having visited and heard so many things about Europe of today, which seem to you the most important challenges for society and the Society of Jesus?
A. The first challenge that seems to emerge constantly is the secularization of Europe with its reduction of viewpoints and its attachment to the past. It seems to me there is a perception of a slight arrogance in the denial of everything that is not known or understood. It is an actual challenge to live as a Christian and as a human being in such a milieu. Another challenge is how to live in relationship to a European Islam that is developing before our own eyes. How to relate with its followers beginning with fraternity, human acceptance, the necessary helps for all those who may walk creatively in a new harmony. A third challenge seems to me to be the necessity of creating a new language, more artistic, dramatic, flexible, capable of expressing in all its richness, the Christian or simply religious experience for the people of today.
Q. In these almost three years as General of the Society of Jesus, you have visited Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Are there some similarities among the continents with regard to the challenges that the Society must face or do we find ourselves with very different problems?
A. I believe that with equal conviction both things can be said. First, overall differences are impressive. There are enormous differences in context, country, rites, ceremonies, etc. Attention must be given to the differences in the way of thinking, speaking of reality, mentalities, traditions, and cultures... But secondly one must take into account the profound similarities. Each of us in our own places, we all suffer equally, all love and want to be loved in the same way and all develop as persons. In this interchange of similarities and differences, I can state that, as religious and as Jesuits, all of us face the same challenges in order to increase the stature of the Church. All feel called, all desire to respond, all are more or less distracted, and all have similar temptations. All this wants to say that we can live together, develop together, mutually help one another and aspire to the necessary maturity in order to enjoy the variety and the richness that our internationality offers us. To be a Jesuit is not a matter of being a Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Asian, or African. Experience tells us with great eloquence that the call of Christ is equally difficult and equally attractive for all people.
Q. In these days is in progress the Synod for the Church of the Middle East. In a few weeks you will visit Egypt. What for you constitutes the diversity of the ecclesial traditions within the Catholic Church?
A. The diversity of ecclesial tradition means to me many things. Permit me to mention some.
- In the first place, the great richness of Christian experience, its history and traditions; the profundity of the spiritualities that have developed in the Christian East. The people of the Mideast are, in my opinion, people who have suffered a great deal throughout history, and the suffering is one of the most definite sources of spirituality and of depth of feeling and thinking.
- This plurality also has a wealth of opportunities. The entire Church and all the churches have here great depths for religious life and spirituality to which they go to as sources of wisdom and spiritual intuition. In dialogue with these churches we can learn a new ecumenism. We can learn to feel ourselves united as brothers and sisters without the necessity that we be in agreement about every single detail. We can deepen our union of hearts and of faith in the midst of the diversity of rites, forms, and devotions. And I believe that also we have here an opportunity to redo continually our theological language inspired by the ever Christian variety of our new forms of living and celebrating.
- Naturally this diversity has its challenges. How to change our perspectives in a way that we all together pay more attention to learning a common future than to the differences that mark our past? How can we help one another so our more normal concern would be in service of the other, especially the poor, and not so much social or political influence. Of course another great challenge presents the necessity of encountering ways of reconciliation with all our neighbors, that could be an eloquent testimony of the love of God in Christ that is at the center of our faith. Finally as we develop our communities of faith we must keep ourselves always aware of human suffering, above every other consideration.
- To sum up, the diversity that we experience in these days and that represents many disperse communities of the world is an invitation to learn a Christian history that knows a great deal about suffering, fidelity, difficulties and also imperfection. Also it is an invitation to reflect on the great depth of faith and of hope that unite us. Lastly it is an invitation to discern the Christian ways of communion, service and hope.
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