All eyes are turned to Rome following the formal opening last Monday, 7^th January, of the 35^th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) since the death of its founder, St Ignatius Loyola, in 1556. Fr Paul Pace, SJ is the representative of the Maltese Province for the proceedings in the General Congregation in Rome.

 A General Congregation (called Chapter in other relgious Orders) is the highest ultimate governing body in the Society of Jesus. A General Congregation is not convoked at definite intervals, but it is summoned on the death of a General to elect his successor, when the need arises to deal with long-lasting and important matters. Whenever it meets it also deals with two important concerns: What would preserve and advance Jesuit religious life, what would best help the Society carry on its works to serve God and the Church, and it may legislate changes in the structure and work of the Order considered advisable to respond to the needs and challenges according to the signs of the time.

      This General Congregation is particular. In its first phase, which may take about two weeks, will deal with the resignation of the Society’s present Superior General, Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach. Fr Kolvenbach, who visited our shores in October 2007 to inaugurate the centenary year of Jesuit-run St Aloysius College in Birkirkara, was elected Superior General of the Jesuit Order in 1983 on the first ballot. According to the Jesuit Constitutions, a Jesuit Superior General is elected for life. But since 1966, for grave reasons, he may present his resignation to a General Congregation. In his letter of February 2, 2006 to convoke General Congregation 35, Father General wrote that “after having obtained the consent of His Holiness Benedict XVI and with the unanimous favourable response from his Assistants and all the Provincials of the Society”, he was convoking the 35^th General Congregation to decide on the governance of the Society at the highest level”.

 In 1983 Father Kolvenbach was elected when Father Pedro Arrupe, with the consent of John Paul II, resigned on account of a sickness which incapacitated him to govern the Society. This time the situation was different: Father Kolvenbach has been Superior General for almost 25 years and his age is close to 80 years. While agreeing to the resignation of Father Kolvenbach, Benedict XVI wanted to maintain the prescription of the Constitutions of a Superior General elected ad vitam with the possibility that he could resign when age or other justified circumstances would warrant it. Congregation 35^th, therefore, will receive the resignation of Father Kolvenbach and proceed to elect a new Superior General. At the same time the Congregation will deliberate on issues of particular importance confronting the life and apostolic activity of the Society of Jesus in the 21^st century.

 Last Monday, 7^th January, in a solemn, and carefully prepared two hour Eucharistic Litugy in the ‘Gesú’, the mother church of the Society in Rome, Cardinal Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, expressed a “heartfelt gratitude” to Father Kolvenbach  for his fidelity, his wisdom, his righteousness and his example of humility and poverty. In the rest of the homily, the Cardinal highlighted the core elements of the Society as St Ignatius wished it: its apostolic charism, obedience to the Holy Father and the sentire cum ecclesia.

At the end of the Mass, accompanied by Father General, the Cardinal moved to the altar of Saint Ignatius. Above the altar is the magnificent statue of St. Ignatius hidden by the recently restored gloriously painted canvas of Brother Pozzo, SJ. The canvas, conceived with a touch of the theatrical taste of the time, was intended to hide this famous statue and reveal it only on special occasions. On this occasion, the canvas was lowered to reveal the statue. In front of the altar, Father General lit a lamp which will burn during the General Congregation as a symbol of the continuous prayer of the Society throughout the world.

The Congregation, which can take up to mid-March, is expected to proceed to discuss matters of importance to the Society and its mission, and may choose to issue decrees and/or entrust to Father General some mandates.

The Society of Jesus, with almost 20,000 Jesuits worldwide, is the largest Catholic religious order. The 35^th General Congregation, which includes some 225 delegates hailing from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Australia, Europe and North America, will determine the Society’s way forward in the coming years. This Congregation also gathers together to treat important and very difficult matters that touch all members of the Society, such as the direction that the Society is presently taking. The themes upon which the General Congregation will reflect have to do with basic elements for the life of the Society, the identity of today’s Jesuit, the meaning and value of the vow of obedience to the Holy Father, the mission of the Society in the context of globalization and marginalization, community life, apostolic obedience, vocation recruitment and other important themes.