VATICAN - The Pope encourages the Jesuits to retrace the steps of their predecessors “with the same courage and intelligence, and also the same profound motivation of faith and passion for serving the Lord and his Church”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Pope Benedict XVI fervently hopes the Society of Jesus will “live with new impulse and fervour the mission for which the Spirit called it into being in the Church and has maintained it with extraordinary fecundity of apostolic fruits for over four and a half centuries" and he encourages its members “to continue on the path of this mission, faithful to the original charisma, in the ecclesial and social context which characterises the beginning of this millennium” . The Pope said this in his address to participants at the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), whom he received in audience on 21 February.
After recalling how the first companions of Ignatius put themselves at the Pope's disposal to proclaim the Lord to peoples and cultures who had yet to meet Him - “the name of Saint Francis Xavier is the most famous of all, but how many more could be mentioned!” - the Holy Father said: “today the peoples who do not yet know the Lord, or know too little about Him to recognise Him as the Saviour, are distant from a cultural rather than a geographical point of view. Rather than the seas or great distances, what challenge today's announcers of the Gospel, are frontiers which a mistaken or superficial vision of God and man, place between faith and human knowledge, faith and modern science, faith and commitment for justice.”
This is why “the Church has urgent need of persons of deeply rooted faith, serious culture and genuine human and social sensitivity, religious and priests dedicated to spending their lives on these frontiers in order to bear witness and to help people understand that on the contrary there exists deep harmony between faith and reason, between the spirit of the Gospel, thirst for justice and active commitment for peace. Only in this way is it possible to make the true face of the Lord known to the many people for whom He is hidden or unrecognisable”. Benedict XVI went on to say that in order to fulfil this principal duty, the Society of Jesus should “continue to form its members with great care in science and virtue, never being content with mediocrity, because the task of comparison and dialogue with very different social and cultural contexts and different ways of thinking in the world today, is among the most difficult and demanding”.
In its long history the Society of Jesus “has lived extraordinary experiences of announcement and encounter between the Gospel and the world's cultures”, the Holy Father recalled, encouraging the Jesuits to retrace the steps of their predecessors “with the same courage and intelligence, and also the same profound motivation of faith and passion for serving the Lord and his Church”, loyally shouldering “the Church's fundamental duty to be faithful to her mandate to adhere totally to the Word of God, and the task of the Magisterium to preserve the truth and unity of Catholic doctrine in its completeness”. The Pope also urged the Jesuits to ensure that their initiatives and institutions “maintain a clear and explicit identity”, to ensure that the goal of apostolic activities “is never ambiguous or unclear”.
The presence in the world of the forces of evil reveals itself today especially in cultural tendencies such as subjectivism, relativism, hedonism, practical materialism. “This is why -Benedict XVI continued - I have asked you to make a renewed effort to promote and defend Catholic doctrine … issues continually discussed and questioned today, the salvation of all mankind in Christ, sexual morals, marriage and the family, must be studied and illuminated in the context of present day reality, while maintaining the necessary harmony with the Magisterium to avoid causing confusion or disconcertment among People of God”. The Holy Father then said: “I am aware and I understand that this point is particularly sensitive and demanding for you and for many of your confreres, especially those engaged in theological research, interreligious dialogue and dialogue with present day cultures. This is why I have asked you and I ask you again today to reflect in order to find the fullest sense of your characteristic 'fourth vow' of obedience to the Successor of Peter, which involves not only willingness to be sent to distant lands on mission, but also - in the most genuine Ignatian spirit ‘to feel with the Church and in the Church’ - to ‘love and serve’ the Vicar of Christ on earth with that ‘effective and affective’ devotion which must place you among his most valid and irreplaceable collaborators in his service for the universal Church ”.
In the last part of his address the Pope urged the Jesuits to “continue to renew the mission among the poor and with the poor” and to give “special attention” to the ministry of Spiritual Exercises. “The choice of the poor is not ideological, it is born of the Gospel - the Holy Father said -. Countless and dramatic are the situations of injustice and poverty in today's world, and although the structural causes of these situations must be understood and fought, it is also necessary to delve deep into the human heart and fight there the profound roots of evil, sin which separates man from God, while not forgetting to meet in the spirit and charity of Christ the most urgent needs”. With regard to spiritual exercises, Benedict XVI said: “it is up to you to continue to make these a valid and effective means for the spiritual growth of souls, to initiate them to prayer, to meditation, in this secularised world in which God appears to be absent… Spiritual Exercises are an especially valid means and method of seeking and finding God, in ourselves, around us and in everything, in order to know his will and put it into practice.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 22/2/2008; righe 65, parole 963)