On the occasion of the publication of Fr Arturo Sosa’s book, Walking with Ignatius, and in connection with Father General’s short visit to Spain, we met the Editorial Director of Grupo de Comunicación Loyola (GCL), Ramón Alfonso Díez Aragón. GCL is a Jesuit work active in various types of publications and digital communication. Ramón Alfonso mainly supervises book publishing; he was in charge of the publication of Father General’s book.

What connection can be made between Grupo de Comunicación Loyola and the Ignatian Year?

I have been working with the Jesuits for 23 years and eight years ago we brought together various works involved in communication into one group: GCL. It was a new beginning and our inspiration has always been Ignatian. When we saw the announcement of the preparation of an Ignatian Year, we wanted to collaborate, according to our capacities, our expertise. It was a stimulus for us: the Editorial Committee clearly stated our intention to publish, on the occasion of this year, works related to Ignatian spirituality.

And you have in fact been able to publish a work directly linked to this year, the book by Fr Arturo Sosa entitled Walking with Ignatius. What relevance does this book have in the current context, not only in the publishing world but also for its content?

As far as publishing is concerned, it was a challenge for us to work with a very tight production schedule and in continuous liaison with the Curia of the Society to arrive at a result that would meet expectations. We are grateful to all those in Rome who contributed to this project. We are also pleased with the work of our layout team who made good use of colours, images and text to achieve a very satisfactory final result. Our work continues in coordinating with publishers of other languages: three publishers in the English-speaking world, and others for French, Italian, Portuguese, Brazilian, Polish, and Arabic. And we are looking into the possibility of Korean, Japanese and Slovak editions, as well as special editions for Africa.

As for the content - the most important, no doubt - it was a pleasure for me to read these conversations between Father Sosa and the journalist Darío Menor. It is written in a language for today’s believers, and even more broadly for anyone interested in knowing what the Society of Jesus is, its mission, its apostolic preferences and, more specifically, how it all had its origin in an injury suffered by Ignatius 500 years ago. Ignatius, because of his wound but not only because of it, was able to enter more deeply into himself, to listen to God who was opening new ways for him. We understand that the Ignatian episode is not the matter of a moment but rather of a process. This is what the book suggests, since it shows that this moment in history had and still has a significant contribution for the Society of Jesus and for the Church.

GLC is also involved in another facet of the Ignatian Year by publishing, in five languages, the annual periodical “JESUITS” which, this year, is focusing on the theme “Seeing all things new in Christ”. How do you see your team’s role in this project?

We are grateful for the opportunity to publish “Jesuits 2022”; it is an honour and a priority for us. The theme seems very relevant to me because the renewal of vision, of the gaze, is a very timely theme; it is something that I frequently encounter in what I read.

The experience of Ignatius in Manresa, which is the origin of the phrase “Seeing everything new in Christ”, I see in an image. The experience of a stone falling into the centre of a lake that creates waves in concentric circles that spread out. There have been people in history who have been, at a specific moment, like a stone thrown in the middle of their epoch and who have had an influence and repercussion that have extended to the present day; I would add, with the same intensity as at the beginning. Thus, the yearbook of the Society, which focuses on the theme of the Ignatian Year, will make it possible to reach thousands and thousands of people with words and images of today.This seems to me an excellent project.