At the end of June, we posted the complete version of “JESUITS2024”, the annual magazine published by the General Curia on the commitments of the Society of Jesus around the world. The theme of this edition is the care of our common home. Jesuit Brother Bernard Hudon, a specialist in ecology from the Province of Canada, offers us his thoughts on the connection between this Universal Apostolic Preference and Ignatian spirituality.

By Bernard Hudon, SJ

It was at the 35^th General Congregation, held in 2008, that the Society of Jesus officially took a position on ecological issues, following a mention in a short decree of the 34^th General Congregation held in 1995. In Decree 3, entitled: Challenges for our mission today, the Society states its desire for Reconciliation with creation, included in a reflection on the revision of its mission established in 1975, namely that “the mission of the Society of Jesus today is the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement. For reconciliation with God demands the reconciliation of people with one another.” (Decree 4 of GC 32, Rome, 1975). This is the famous Decree 4, which was a firm Jesuit commitment to social justice and which saw the creation of numerous centres for social analysis throughout the world, as well as the martyrdom of some forty Jesuits, mainly in Latin America.

35^th General Congregation, 2008

This Congregation has reviewed its mission as expressed in 1975, defining it as Reconciliation with God, Reconciliation with one another and, finally, Reconciliation with the creation. In No. 33 we read: “The drive to access and exploit sources of energy and other natural resources is very rapidly widening the damage to earth, air, water, and our whole environment, to the point that the future of our planet is threatened. Poisoned water, polluted air, massive deforestation, deposits of atomic and toxic waste are causing death and untold suffering, particularly to the poor.”

Analysis

For Jesuits, a firm commitment to our “common home” is a desire for socio-political engagement, whereas the Franciscans usually see it as a contemplation of the beauties of nature. Pope Francis, himself a Jesuit, wrote his encyclical Laudato si’, addressed to people of good will, rather than to Catholics alone, as is customary. It is a plea for “integral ecology” understood as a genuine social approach that includes the loss of biodiversity, climate change, the global economy that is pushing billions of people aside, and population growth, which is not a problem in itself, but rather the problem of the unequal distribution of resources. Francis also lucidly states that it is the countries of the North that owe a debt to the countries of the South. It’s hardly surprising that the current Pope has shaken the pillars of the temple of mainstream neoliberalism. He has made enemies among the right-wing intelligentsia, especially in some parts of the world. Inspired by Ignatian spirituality, in his address to the last COP, Francis forcefully stated: “I am with you to ask the question that we are now called upon to answer: are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death? I urge you: let us choose life, let us choose the future!”