New Provincial for Jesuits in Gujarat
Father Francis Pudhicherry, SJ, has been appointed Provincial of the Gujarat Province by Father General Arturo Sosa, SJ.
Since 2021, he has been rector of De Nobili College in Pune, where Jesuit scholastics study philosophy and theology. He also teaches spiritual theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum in Pune and became full professor there in 2024.
Born in Ahmedabad, Father Pudhicherry entered the Society of Jesus in 1992 after studying commerce at Gujarat University. Ordained in 2004, he pronounced Final Vows in 2017. Early assignments included directing the pre-novitiate and coordinating vocation promotion for the Gujarat Province.
A doctorate in Ignatian spirituality from the University of Comillas in Madrid examined the Jesuit Constitutions in a dissertation titled “Self-love to Self-emptying Love”. Tertianship took place in Mexico in 2014.
In addition to sitting on the editorial board of Revista Manresa in Madrid, he edits Ignis, the journal on Ignatian spirituality for the Jesuit Conference of South Asia. Fluent in English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Spanish, he has taught seminars on discernment, spiritual theology, and the Jesuit Constitutions throughout India and abroad.
The appointment takes effect on 24 May 2026, Pentecost Sunday, which this year falls on the feast of Our Lady of the Way, patroness of the Society of Jesus.
Fr Francis Pudhicherry
New Provincial of the Gujarat Province
Related Posts:
Father General Arturo Sosa has appointed Fr John Kobina Ghansah as the new Regional Assistant for Africa and Madagascar and General Counsellor. Fr Ghansah, currently Provincial of the North-West Africa Province (ANW), will assume his new role on 6 January 2027...
A Croatian Jesuit who crossed half the world to serve the poorest communities of Bengal, Fr Ante Gabrić spent five extraordinary decades building up the Church in the Sundarbans – one school, one clinic, one family at a time. His cause for beatification is now before the Church...
The annual meeting of Eco-Jesuit delegates in South Asia, held at Inigo Bhawan in Matigara, Darjeeling, became much more than a routine gathering. Set against the fragile ecology of the Eastern Himalayas, the meeting turned into a moment of discernment on the future...
In April 2026, Pope Leo XIV made the first-ever papal visit to Algeria. Two weeks later, Father Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, travelled to Algeria to visit the small Jesuit community there for the first time since his election in 2016. The land of St Augustine, bishop of Hippo...
On 12 May 2026, Father General Arturo Sosa appointed Fr Francis Xavier Manasan Wongvarn, SJ, as the new Regional Superior of Thailand. Born on 4 October 1981 in Bangkok, Fr Manasan entered the Society of Jesus in 2001. He studied philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University where he obtained...
Father General Arturo Sosa has appointed Father Bart van Emmerik, as the Regional Superior of the Independent Region of the European Low Countries (ELC). Fr van Emmerik currently serves as the socius of the ELC Region and as delegate for spirituality...
