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Jesuits
Euro-Mediterranean Province of the Society of Jesus

Our bond with the Church

Jesuits Ignatian Spirituality Our bond with the Church

For the greater glory of God

We are people of the Church and for the Church. We make ourselves totally available to her to help in the fulfilment of her universal mission. We walk with her, offering our full collaboration. We constantly ask ourselves which of our spiritual charisms can be most beneficial for her in any given situation. It is a relationship of love that helps us “feel” her problems and her limitations, as if they were our own. In virtue of this bond, we seek to help her grow towards the greater glory of God.

Allegiance to the Pope

Some of us make a special vow of obedience to the Pope. It is the famous fourth vow: the obedience circa missiones. Since the Pope has a universal vision of the Church, he knows better than others which frontiers should we be sent to. Ignatius and his first companions founded the Society with the intention of putting themselves at the service of the Pope, placing themselves totally at his disposal to take on any mission asked of them.

Find out how we live the other vows

At the frontiers

One of the characteristics particular to the Jesuit Order which we offer to the universal Church is to stay at the ‘frontiers’ of society, where new questions are asked, or where answers are hard to come by. The appeal addressed to us by Paul VI at General Congregation 32 (December 3, 1974) still rings loud and clear:

“Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and extreme fields, at the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, wherever there has been and there is confrontation between the burning exigencies of man and the perennial message of the Gospel, here also there have been, and there are, Jesuits.”

Read Paul VI’s full address to GC32
Our founder

Ignatius of Loyola, the founder

“He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself”

A religious priestly order

The Society of Jesus

In 1540 Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus to help others find God in their life. From the first 10 companions, today there are more than 16,000 Jesuits in 100 countries. Each Jesuit is called to live the vows of obedience, for the greater good of others; chastity, as unselfish relationships; and poverty, by aiming for the essential.

Father General Arturo Sosa during a solemn celebration with other Jesuits
Get Up and Walk is the daily Gospel commented on (Italian only) using the method of Ignatian spirituality, to “seek and find God in all things.”
Pray As You Go is a daily audio podcast prayer for those on the go, available online or on smartphones.
Click To Pray is the portal for the Worldwide Prayer Network for a daily prayer according to the Pope’s intentions and online with the community of the faithful.

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