Collaboration (“our life is based on our ability to collaborate with
others”) and multiculturalism (“the true face of God is multicoloured,
multicultured and extremely varied”).
These are the two “fundamental
themes” Fr. Sosa – who was elected Superior General of the Jesuits on 14
October – highlighted as the focal points of his generalate.
In his
first interview at the communications office of the Congregation that
elected him as St. Ignatius’ new successor, the Venezuelan Jesuit
interprets his election “as a confirmation of the path initiated back
when Arrupe was Superior General”, after the Second Vatican Council.
“The emphasis on collaboration doesn’t mean we cannot make it alone,”
Fr. Sosa underlined, “it means we don’t want to act alone. The Society
of Jesus loses its meaning if collaboration with others is lacking. We
are thus called to embark on an enormous conversion, because in many
parts of the world we are still harbour a sense of nostalgia about when
we used to do everything, there is no other solution but to share the
mission. I sincerely believe the opposite is true: our life is based on
our collaboration with others. The other theme is multiculturalism and
interculturalism because it is a theme contained in the Gospel. The
Gospel is a call to all cultures to convert, in order to guarantee them
as cultures and bring them to God. The true face of God is
multicoloured, multicultured and extremely varied. God is not
homogeneous. Quite the opposite. Creation is showing us diversity in
every aspect, how one thing completes another. If the Society manages to
be an image of this, then it will itself be an expression of this face
of God. I believe,” Fr. Sosa said, “that after the Council, the Society
gained this cultural variety. We managed to put down roots in every part
of the world and this is where authentic vocations are born from. You
meet genuine Jesuits of all colours and in all sectors, everywhere you
go. I believe this is a sign of the Church for the world. We are united
in our diversity, by our bond with Jesus and with the Gospel and this is
the sources of the Society’s creativity as well as that of the people
who share our mission.”
Sharing some highlights from his own life’s journey, the 31st
Superior General of the Society of Jesus said he “grew up always
fighting to go a bit beyond what there was”. He said the Jesuit College
in Caracas, which he began attending as a child, “for me was like a
second home. In fact according to my mum it was my first home since I
was never at home.”
Sosa spent a while reflecting on the Council: “The Council was very
important to me, it was definitely great news. We followed it like a
novel.” That was also when Fr. Arrupe – the famous Superior General who
led the Jesuits from 1965 to 1983 – was elected, “another breath of
fresh air”. Then came the Rio document, written by Arrupe and Latin
America’s provincials and a few months later the Latin American Bishops’
Conference in Medellin. For a Church that had “practically been wiped
out during the 19th century”, these events, the Second Vatican Council,
Rio and Medellin “were in some way the Church that had found its
strength again in the people, in people’s faith: this is the faith that
must sustain us and with it we will be capable of creating another
Church”.
Sosa went on to comment on his election by the 36th General
Congregation of the Society of Jesus, which is still underway. “I think
my experience on a local and international level was seen as a valuable
asset and I am sure that the last years I spent in Rome played their
part. Above all, however, as far as I understand I was one of the many
Jesuits in Latin America who sought to put into practice what the
congregations had been saying for the past 40 years. I see it as a
confirmation of the path initiated back when Arrupe was Superior
General. I see this election as confirmation of what we need to continue
doing in the future.”
Pope Francis encourages us to push ourselves
further, as if to say: ‘you still have a long way to go before you
achieve what you are capable of’.” While the Society “has few doubts
about what its mission is,” the big challenge now is “how we go about
efficiently embarking on this mission”. This requires “intellectual
depth because it is not simply a case of copying existing models but
about creating. Creating means comprehending. And this is a tough
intellectual process.”