Category: July-Sept 2025

Jesuit activist’s death anniversary sparks a democratic awakening

By Santhanam Arockiasamy, SJ

On 5 July 2025, in the quiet village of Viragalur in Tamil Nadu’s Trichy District, history was made – in stone and in spirit. The fourth death anniversary of Fr. Stan Swamy was marked with a deeply moving public tribute: the unveiling of his bust and a ‘Democratic Awakening Conference.’ More than 8,000 people, civil society leaders, bishops, activists, students, clergy, religious, political leaders, and lawyers, gathered in an extraordinary show of solidarity for justice, human rights, and constitutional values.

This gathering was more than a memorial. It was a political and spiritual call to action, a people’s verdict that Fr. Stan Swamy’s martyrdom will not be forgotten, and his mission will continue.

A Convergence of Church, Civil Society, and Political Will

The coordinated presence of the archbishop and bishops from Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops’ Council (TNBC) played a central role. Among them were Bishop Francis Kalist of Pondicherry-Cuddalore, Bishop Neethinathan of Chengalpattu, Bishop Nazarene Soosai  of Kottar, Bishop Amalraj of Udhagamandalam, Bishop Jeevanandam of Kumbakonam, and Bishop Albert George Anastas of Kuzhithurai. The participation of several Jesuits, clergy, seminarians, and religious including Mother Generals and Provincials proclaimed that this gathering was a prophetic affirmation of commitment to walk with the oppressed.

Political leaders spanning the ideological spectrum, from Marxist to Ambedkarite and Periyarite to secular regional forces, joined hands to honour Fr. Stan Swamy’s life and legacy. On the dais were: Mr. Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi,  the Tamil Nadu Minister for School Education, Ms. Kanimozhi, MP and  DMK Deputy General Secretary, Mr. Thol. Thirumavalavan, MP and President of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Mr. Mutharasan (CPI Secretary, Mr. M. Shanmugam, CPI(M) Secretary), Mr. Inigo Irudayaraj, (MLA, Christuva Nallenna Iyakkam and other progressive leaders spoke in unison against injustice.

Fr. Stan Swamy’s martyrdom will not be forgotten, and his mission will continue.

Voices of Conscience: What the Speakers Said

The most compelling part of the day was the voices that rang through the Convention stage, each echoing the same moral imperative: to carry forward the legacy of Fr. Stan Swamy. Bishop Jeevanandam, who had closely worked with Fr. Stan in his mission with Adivasis, offered a profound theological reflection: “The Church must stand wherever justice is denied. Fr. Stan’s life is Gospel lived out fully. We must walk with the Adivasi people and the most marginalized, just as he did.”

Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, with characteristic emotion, declared: “We must all become Stan Swamys. We must live for others. His life teaches us that the highest form of protest is service.” His words electrified the crowd, blurring the line between governance and grassroots empathy. Ms. Kanimozhi, M.P., said, “Stan Swami was not afraid. He stood for Adivasis, and that was his only crime. Today, let us reclaim dissent as a democratic right.” Mr. Thol. Thirumavalavan, whose speech struck a deep emotional chord, emphasized the moral dimension of martyrdom. Advocate Henri Tiphagne, the renowned human rights lawyer, said that Tamil Nadu should enact a law to protect human rights defenders. Advocate Balamurugan said: “This statue is not just bronze. It is a symbol of resistance, of moral defiance.” Thiruvadikudil Swamigal, a spiritual leader from the Jyothimalai Spiritual Movement, said, “This is not a Christian event. This is a human event. Civil liberties must unite Hindus, Christians, Muslims and all people of conscience.” Mr. Inigo Irudayaraj, M.L.A., added: “This statue must become a site of pilgrimage for all who believe in justice. It is a call to engage in political processes, especially for Christians who have long remained silent.”

A Movement, Not a Moment:

The event was not an isolated occasion. It was the result of months of preparatory work by the Stan Swamy People’s Federation, which launched a religious campaign – by meeting the bishops and priests, a community campaign – by meeting village heads, youth groups and basic Christian communities, and a cultural mobilization – by bringing in singers, dancers and artists. Three thousand copies of a booklet in Tamil on Stan Swami, written by Fr. Paul Michael Raj, were distributed.

As the statue was unveiled, silence swept the gathering, followed by a thunderous applause.

A Statue, A Symbol, A Spark

The statue of Fr. Stan Swamy was unveiled by Ms. Kanimozhi and Mr. Thirumavalavan in a charged moment of collective reverence. As the statue was unveiled, silence swept the gathering, followed by a thunderous applause. In that moment, the village of Viragalur proclaimed that Stan Swamy lives on in every voice raised for the voiceless, that Stan Swamy’s name has become a synonym for the fight against injustice. His legacy unites marginalised communities, clergy, religious, activists, and political leaders across ideologies and faiths. In death, he has become what many in life fear to be: a conscience for the nation. As Advocate C.J. Rajan, one of the key conveners of the event, put it: “Stan Swamy’s statue is not an end – it is the beginning of a long walk to justice.” Indeed, that walk has begun. And it is growing louder with every step.

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By Cedric Prakash, SJ

Where is India on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI)? On the 2024 EPI India is ranked at a pathetically low position of 176 out of 180 countries. The abysmally low ranking is due to poor air quality, high projected emissions and low biodiversity scores. The EPI uses 58 indicators to assess a country’s environmental performance. Indicators, include biodiversity, air pollution, air and water quality, waste management, emission growth rates, projected emissions, etc., under the three main heads of ecosystem vitality, environmental health and climate change.

To assess how well countries are safeguarding their natural treasures, the EPI added a new category this year: biodiversity and habitat. This category revealed a worrying trend – many protected areas worldwide are being overtaken by buildings and agriculture.

The annual observance of World Environment Day is supposed to make us commit ourselves to protecting the environment.  But what we witness is the usual jostle to plant saplings, the plethora of long, boring speeches on the importance of the environment ‘ad nauseam’ and plenty of photo-ops with faces turned towards the cameras. We see plenty of ‘tokenism’ and ‘cosmetic’ action – most of which, will be soon forgotten.

Trees are necessary but is there someone who will nurture the saplings and ensure their growth? Public awareness on the importance of the environment is a prerequisite – but then words ring hollow when the ones who wax eloquent are the very ones who are in nexus with those who destroy nature.

Interestingly, the theme for World Environment Day 2025 is ‘Ending Global Plastic Pollution’. It focuses on the widespread impact of plastic pollution, from visible waste to microplastics in various ecosystems, and calls for action to reduce and eliminate it. But who cares? Some of the big manufacturers will continue rolling out their reams of plastic without any qualms of conscience – after all, they will always have the protection of the powerful. Our seas and rivers are polluted with plastic waste. There are practically no checks and balances, to ensure that plastics below 120 microns are not used as carry-bags or for that matter there is strict segregation of garbage disposal and nothing is dumped into our seas, rivers and other water-bodies.

India’s heavy reliance on coal is a key factor hindering its environmental performance across multiple indicators. The use of coal not only fuels high greenhouse gas emissions but also contributes significantly to India’s severe air pollution problem. This is reflected in India’s rankings. With regard to air quality India is ranked 177 out of 180 countries – above only Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

India’s heavy reliance on coal is a key factor hindering its environmental performance across multiple indicators. The use of coal not only fuels high greenhouse gas emissions but also contributes significantly to India’s severe air pollution problem.

This grim reality cries for environmental justice. It is the cry of the poor! The cry of the earth!

‘Environmental justice’ is today a global social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has generated hundreds of studies showing that exposure to environmental harm is inequitably distributed. Additionally, many marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters.

The primary goal of the environmental justice movement is to achieve agency for poor and marginalized communities – particularly the excluded and exploited – in making environmental decisions that affect their lives. The global environmental justice movement arises from local environmental conflicts in which environmental defenders frequently confront multi-national corporations in resource extraction or other industries. Local outcomes of these conflicts are increasingly influenced by trans-national environmental justice networks.

In India we experience today how mega-corporations and the mining mafia are literally ruling the roost. What is happening in the tribal areas of Manipur and the Adivasi areas of Bastar, Chhattisgarh today are clear examples of how environmental justice is denied to these sections of people!

The 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that is COP 30 will take place from 10 to 21 November 2025 in Belém, Brazil. During this climate summit, governments must take new steps to limit the climate crisis and achieve the target of a maximum of 1.5 degrees of global warming.

In this context the Society of Jesus have launched globally ‘Jesuits for Climate Justice SB62 and COP30 campaign’ stating that, “the climate crisis can no longer be denied. Its most severe effects are felt in countries where extreme weather devastates communities, rising sea levels threaten coastal regions, and ecosystem collapse jeopardizes livelihoods. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns of “a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” This crisis demands immediate and decisive actions, and COP30 is a critical event for the global community in addressing the climate emergency.

The primary goal of the environmental justice movement is to achieve agency for poor and marginalized communities in making environmental decisions that affect their lives.

In the spirit of the Jubilee of Hope, all people of goodwill should join to work for a just and sustainable future, urging delegates to COP30 and governments to: 1.Cancel the debt of underdeveloped countries and strengthen the Loss and Damage Fund. Unjust and unpayable debts from underdeveloped nations should be cancelled so that resources could be free for climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, and a grant-based Loss and Damage Fund must provide adequate resources to address the devastating impacts of climate change.

2. Accelerate agreements and set targets for a Just Energy Transition to reduce CO2 emissions. A Just Energy Transition should consider historical responsibilities, respect indigenous rights, value nature, and prioritize sustainable livelihoods over profit-driven models. 3. Set concrete targets to build a Global Food Sovereignty System based on agro-ecological practices. A system that promotes culturally adapted modes of production, transformation, distribution, and food consumption, applying ecological principles to agriculture.

The COP process is imperative for making international progress on the climate crisis. Pope Francis stated, “It is a matter of establishing global and effective rules that can permit ‘providing for’ this global safeguarding” (LD, 43). Long years ago Mahatma Gandhi reminded us that, “the world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.” In his path-breaking encyclical Laudato Si’, our beloved late Pope Francis echoes a similar sentiment “we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

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By Francis P. Xavier, SJ

Jesuit education extends beyond mere academic or professional knowledge; it seeks the holistic development of individuals, shaping them into socially responsible leaders who work towards social transformation. The education provided is not just for the individual but for society as a whole. This holistic formation includes fostering intellectual growth (head), instilling a commitment to ethical practices grounded in justice, fairness, and equity (heart), and cultivating the confidence to take action in society, particularly to empower the marginalized (hand).

Focus on the uniqueness of individuals: A fundamental tenet of a Jesuit business school is that every person is unique, with hidden talents. Recognizing and understanding one’s cultural, social, and economic background is vital, and a supportive environment should be established for learning, allowing individuals to shine and letting their light of excellence and leadership brighten the world. Faculty members and the institution must strive to understand each person’s story so that every individual, armed with business knowledge and wisdom, can make history in the world. 

Jesuits fundamentally focus on liberal arts, enhancing the effectiveness of the curriculum for social leadership formation. At the same time, Jesuits adhere to the principle of doing what is most needed, meaning that education must evolve according to the needs of the people and the times.

Three guiding principles: The focus of education and training is based on three guiding principles: caring for individual holistic formation (cura personalis), which prepares individuals for excellent and outstanding contributions in their professions (cura apostolica), enabling them to use their talents and capacities to make society a better place for all (cura communitatis). Therefore, it is not profit in business management that matters, but rather the welfare of people. If the business world draws one towards constant upskilling and competition, leading to monopolies through efficiency, Jesuit pedagogy inspires learners to effectiveness and efficacy based on compassion for the good of all. The tendency of the corporate world is towards human doing (achievement and success), but the goal of Jesuit business education is human being (bringing unity and harmony to society).

Five phases of IPP: The Jesuit pedagogy known as the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (alternatively labeled as the Integral Pedagogical Paradigm) consists of five phases: Context, Experience, Reflection, Action, and Evaluation. Once the context, where one is invited or engaged to work, is clear, Jesuit institutions focus on empowering the marginalized while upholding excellence and ethics. Faculty members contribute their accumulated experience in teaching and learning, which leads to collective reflection on how they can shape students entrusted to them so that they would play their expected roles in society.

A fundamental tenet of a Jesuit business school is that every person is unique, with hidden talents.

Their collective reflection leads to an action plan with a timeline. This is followed by periodic evaluations, whether semester-wise or annually, to assess the success of the imparted formation. This evaluation enriches the experience and invites further reflection, action, and evaluation. This cyclic process stands out as an excellent teaching and learning pedagogy. 

Creating a counterculture: The outcome of Jesuit business schools creates a counterculture: While the corporate world concentrates on profit-making, Jesuit-trained business people work for the common good. While elite professional schools cater to individual advancement in position and power, individuals trained by Jesuits strive for the common welfare. Although the general tendency in business schools may promote equality by treating everyone the same way, Jesuit formation advocates for equity, inspiring students to give more to those deserving. This effort aims to help people feel good, become great, and ultimately support them in achieving enduring greatness in life. Jesuit business schools never settle for the status quo but instead always strive for magis, to do ever more and ever better.

Ignatian triple vision: Furthermore, professional formation is based on the Ignatian triple vision: life vision, work vision, and love vision. Filled with love for all, one aims to do his/her best to make life purposeful for oneself and meaningful for others. As a cumulative product of society, one contributes out of gratitude to the community. This is depicted below as indicated in the Spiritual Exercises (SE) composed by St. Ignatius:

Life-vision is for doing something beautiful  for society. Principle and Foundation (SE 23), Work-vision ever to excel (magis). Two Standards (SE 91ff)

Four phases of love-vision include serving the needy.  ‘Love is to give’ (SE 231). This process occurs in four phases: Reviewing, Reimagining/Renewing, Revitalizing, and Restructuring. Within the given time and context, the administration and faculty members review their successes and failures. They assess the current scenario and reimagine adaptability in teaching and learning methods. This requires revitalizing oneself through ongoing training. The outcome is restructuring the curriculum and fostering collaboration with industries and corporate entities.

The entire process involves communal discernment in order to arrive at good decisions that can be effectively implemented. This approach is grounded in SE as a corrective, illuminative, transformative, and redemptive practice. What needs correction from the past is recognized in the illumination of the present. The transformative process begins with effective methodologies to create a better society. Holistic professional training and formation are further enhanced through an ongoing process of reading, reflecting, and responding. The candidate from a Jesuit business school continually engages with research materials, applying critical thinking and looking beyond the current scenario into the future. This encourages honest reflection on the impact of one’s life and work. The process ends when the leader dares to do what is necessary to emerge as a leader.

While the corporate world concentrates on profit-making, Jesuit-trained business people work for the common good.

With or without title: Leadership may come with a title aimed at achieving great things, but it can also manifest without a title. A leader without a title inspires others with credibility, serving as a beacon and role model. The ultimate realization is awakening in becoming men and women for/with others, transcending prejudice and bias, leading all to freedom with responsibility, and thereby building universal unity and harmony.

Ultimately, the student who graduates from a Jesuit business school is like an archer, as Paulo Coelho describes in The Archer, who possesses a bow and several arrows. As the archer discovers his/her life destiny, he/she takes responsibility for it. The bow represents life, which remains constant for the archer. The archer chooses the target – the goal to Achieve – and releases the arrows of intention and effort, aware that while many arrows may aim at the same target, each will follow a different trajectory. Once an arrow is released, the  archer simply observes, growing in patience and hope to fulfill life’s purpose. This realization is driven by the archer’s ingenuity, passion, and commitment.

Knowledge & Wisdom: While a business school imparts knowledge, students acquire wisdom through experience. Knowledge is about knowing the ‘what,’ while wisdom is about understanding the ‘why.’ Knowledge is utilized to make life meaningful for oneself and others through individual and collective efforts marked by creativity, competence, commitment, consciousness, and compassion.

In summary, excellence grounded in ethics for the good of all leads to the understanding that business is not just about making a profit, but also about serving the welfare of all (customers, stakeholders, partners, etc.). The needs of people guide one’s ingenuity and passion for excellence with ethics.

(Developed from his input session at St. Joseph’s Institute of Management (JIM) at St. Joseph’s College, Trichy.)

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Another way of looking at Annotation 23

By Errol Fernandes, SJ

Some scholars of Ignatian spirituality believe that the content of Annotation 23 -which is the last Annotation in the Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius – titled “The Principle and Foundation”, contains enough material for reflection and meditation for the whole retreat. They think that it contains almost all the points made in the other parts of the Spiritual Exercises. I agree with this view.

On deeper reflection on the content of Annotation 23, I have found that all of it is contained in the catechism we learn during our initiation into Christianity. As a matter of fact, this catechism could also be the imitation to any other faith tradition. In this catechism, there are two questions and responses as follows:

1. Who made you? God made me.

2. Why did God make me? To love God, to serve God and to be happy with God forever.

In the book of Genesis, we read about the creation of the heavens and the earth and of life on the earth. We are also told that humans are created in the “image and likeness of God” (Gen 1:26-28). This means that as humans we were created for eternity. It is in this context that we can understand what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience”. There was to be no limit or end to life. Sin – symbolised by selfishness – was the reason why life ended. Because of sin, humans would now have an end.

Thus, to be made means that each of us has come at a moment in time and will have to go at a moment in time. The date of birth on a variety of documents that we possess indicated the date, month and year when we were born and so came into this world. Nobody knows when we will be called back. Therefore this moment is all that I have and all that is given to me. Since I do not know when our lives will end, I will live every moment of every day as it were my last moment. I will have no regrets about the past, but I will learn from it. I have no obsession about the future, although I will plan for it.

The Jesuit saint John Berchmans’s motto was: “Age quod agis.” It roughly means “Do what you are doing.” It can be paraphrased as “live in the present moment.” If we live this present moment as we ought to, we will be able to look back at the “past” with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. It will also mean that the “future” will naturally have been planned. In the conclusion to the parable of the shrewd steward (Lk 16:1-7), Jesus makes exactly this point. The steward is shrewd because he acts in the present. In this, he prepares for his “future”, but by acting in the Now. This leads Jesus to state the following in conclusion, “For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own than are the children of light” (Lk 16:8). It is an invitation and exhortation to live in the now.

It is a good practice to do some ‘spring-cleaning’ once every few months and give away that which we do not need to others who might need them. This will be a freeing experience and also lead to a sense of detachment.

Since we do not know when our life on earth will come to an end, we must be circumspect in our accumulation of things. The way to do this is to not convert our wants into our needs. Even a cursory reflection will reveal that we need very little to live fully and be happy. We often convert our wants/cravings/longings (James 4:1-3) into our needs. We then get obsessed with acquiring those “wants” and so stop living in the now.

It is a good practice to do some ‘spring-cleaning’ once every few months and give away that which we do not need to others who might need them. This will be a freeing experience and also lead to a sense of detachment.

To be “made” means that I cannot be in two places at the same time. It also means that I cannot be at two times in the same place. The present moment is never intolerable. What is intolerable is to have our body in a particular place and our minds in another.

We were created for a triple purpose. To love God means to glory in my selfhood. It means to thank God for who I am. It means that I will never compare myself with anyone. I do not need to be better than anyone. I do not need to feel lesser than anyone. I am who I am. In the parable of the  workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16) where the owner of the vineyard pays first those who were hired last, the reason for the consternation on the part of those who were hired first was because they compared themselves to others. To be sure, the owner was not being unfair because he paid everyone what he had promised them. However, when those who were hired first witnessed that those who worked only one hour were being paid the amount that the owner had agreed to pay them, they assumed they would be paid more. They did do, because they compared themselves with others and because of their cravings, they desired for more.

If we stop comparing ourselves with others and realize the glory that is within us, we will love ourselves, others and God.

Service implies work, surely, but it goes beyond the action to the attitude we take to our “work”. The German mystic Meister Eckhart summarised this well when he said “You should bother less about what you ought to do and think more about what you ought to be. Because if your being were good, your works would shine forth brightly”. Thus, the focus ought to be our being/attitude/heart/inner being more than the action.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes a telling point in his instructions on how service must be rendered. “So, you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Lk 17:10). The meaning of this is that we must have no expectations of any kind of reward or congratulations for the service that we do. We must consider the privilege of rendering the service as reward in and of itself. This is reiterated when Jesus sends his disciples on Mission and exhorts them thus, “You received without paying, give without pay”. (Mt 10:8)

I am meant to be happy at all times and in every place. In the Gospel of Mark, 10:23, Jesus says to his disciples, after the rich man had rejected his offer to give his possessions away, “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God!” He repeats this in 10:24, because his disciples are amazed that he could say such a thing. The point that Jesus is making in these verses is that possessions take hold of us in such a manner that we are not able to realize their temporary nature. The verses may be translated thus, “How hard it will be for those whom riches have to enter the Kingdom of God!” In other words, he is referring to those who are possessed by their riches, those who are controlled by their riches, those whom their riches will not allow to be free.

We could summarise the “Principle and Foundation” and the early catechism as follows: To be created/made means that because we do not know when the Lord will call us, we live this moment as if it was our last.

To love God means to thank God for the gift of who I am and to glory in my selfhood.

To serve God means to do what I do and see the reward of my action in the action itself.

To be happy with God means that I need nothing from without to make me happy. I have ALL that I need within myself.

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By Shailendra Boora, SJ

The life and leadership of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit Pope, were shaped by Ignatian spirituality and steeped in the missionary ethos of the Society of Jesus. He did not merely bring a Jesuit résumé to the papacy – he brought a Jesuit soul.

His very name reflected that. In the conclave, when a fellow cardinal urged him to “remember the poor,” he responded with spiritual freedom – a hallmark of the Ignatian Exercises – and chose “Francis,” not as a departure from his Jesuit identity, but as its most radical expression. The values of St Francis of Assisi – poverty, humility, peace, and care for creation – echoed Ignatius’s call to indifference, mission to the margins, and finding God in all things.

Francis’s papacy bore all the hallmarks of his formation: discernment over certainty, mercy over judgment, humility over prestige. In an age of spectacle and cynicism, he bore witness to a leadership grounded not in controlling and issuing decrees – but in listening and dialoguing.

The Grace of Downward Mobility

From the moment he declined the golden mozzetta and stepped onto the balcony and bowed asking for prayers, it was clear that Pope Francis would exercise a different kind of authority. He chose to live at the Domus Sanctae Marthae rather than the Apostolic Palace, wore plain cassocks, travelled in a modest car, and eschewed papal pageantry. These were not mere gestures, but expressions of inward detachment that allows one to choose what better serves the mission.

His simplicity was the result of sticking to what really matters: availability to the Spirit, attentiveness to the poor, and integrity in public life. It shaped his approach to Vatican reform. He demanded transparency, accountability, and justice within the Church. In a world that equates power with pomp, Francis modelled a counter-witness: leadership rooted in presence, not prestige. His Jesuit formation gave him the grace of indifference – not apathy, but freedom from the illusions of status and success.

His simplicity was the result of sticking to what really matters: availability to the Spirit, attentiveness to the poor, and integrity in public life.

He did not just speak of humility – he chose it daily. And in doing so, he reminded the Church that spiritual authority does not originate in the position someone holds but his genuineness – not in palaces but in proximity to the margins. His life was the response to the question at the heart of Jesuit formation: what does it mean to lead from below, for the greater glory of God?

A Voice for Our Common Home

In 2015, Pope Francis released Laudato Si’, an encyclical that startled the world with its moral clarity. It was not simply a document on ecology, but the heartfelt cry of a prophet. With the voice of a pastor and the urgency of a discerner, Francis insisted that the environmental crisis had to do with how we understand ourselves, one another, and creation. “The cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor,” he wrote, are not two different crises, but one.

This vision echoes the heart of Ignatian spirituality – finding God in all things and responding adequately after discernment. Laudato Si’ revealed how ecological destruction is inseparable from economic injustice, spiritual fragmentation, and cultural arrogance. Francis called for ecological conversion – a turning toward integral ecology, where justice, sustainability, and contemplation are woven together.

His invitation to live more simply, to stand with the vulnerable, and to challenge systems that place profit above people was deeply Ignatian. For many, Catholics or not, the encyclical became a spiritual map – a guide for rethinking how we consume, relate, and believe. Through Laudato Si’, Pope Francis gave voice to a central question of the Spiritual Exercises: What more can we do – for God, his creation and his people?

Walking with the Excluded

Pope Francis warned consistently against the ‘globalization of indifference’ – a world numbed to the suffering of the marginalized. His stand was a conscious expression of the Jesuit mission: to go to the margins, accompany the wounded, and confront systems that discard human lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies and even governments prioritised markets over people, Francis proposed a universal basic income.

The World Meeting of Popular Movements, launched in 2014, embodied this vision. “Land, Housing, Labour” became a spiritual rallying cry. Francis affirmed the dignity of casual workers, migrants, and farmers by demanding these as rights – not as acts of charity. This was finding God in all places, especially where the world refuses to look.

His care extended to those long excluded from the Church: LGBTQ+ persons, prisoners, the addicts, the homeless. His gestures – washing the feet of refugees, blessing the disfigured, embracing the condemned – were not symbolic. They were acts of a contemplative in action, one who has attained love through contemplation.

Listening to Indigenous Wisdom

Whenever Pope Francis interacted with indigenous communities, he readily apologized, because he had discerned. This was a deeply Ignatian posture – one shaped by the Examen, by humility, and by a belief that God could speak through the voices that history has silenced.

He summoned us to rediscover God in those places we had once refused to even look at.

In 2015 in Bolivia he acknowledged the sin of colonization. “Many grave sins were committed in the name of God”, he said and sought forgiveness. At the Amazon Synod in 2019, he placed indigenous voices at the centre of the Church’s discernment, naming climate collapse, extractive violence, and cultural erasure as spiritual wounds. He summoned us to rediscover God in those places we had once refused to even look at.

Welcoming the Stranger

As the refugee crisis intensified in 2015, Pope Francis stood virtually alone among world leaders in calling not to build walls, but to welcome the migrants and refugees. “May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe take in one refugee family” was his fervent plea.

This hospitality flowed from his Jesuit identity, a tradition that calls for universal availability, readiness to go anywhere, serve the least, and find God in the stranger. When Francis visited the island of Lesbos in 2016, he didn’t just offer sympathy – he brought to Rome twelve Syrian Muslim refugees aboard the papal plane. He reminded the world that we need to welcome all those who seek refuge. To turn away from the displaced, he insisted, is to turn away from Christ.

Dialogue as a Spiritual Mission

Pope Francis approached interfaith dialogue not as diplomacy, but as a spiritual mission. For him, dialogue was a sacred act – a way of listening to God’s voice in unfamiliar places. With interior freedom, he entered places sacred to other faiths and secular spaces not to defend or promote the Church, but to build trust, fraternity, and peace.

In 2019, he signed the Document on Human Fraternity with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb in Abu Dhabi, declaring, “God does not want religions to fight each other.” It was a bold act of bridge-building, rooted in the Jesuit conviction that truth and grace are not the monopoly of one tradition. His 2021 meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Iraq, and the Istiqlal Joint Declaration with Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar in Jakarta (2024), reflected his belief that the only way to peace was dialogue.

He found common ground even with non-believers,. Early in his papacy, he wrote to La Repubblica, affirming conscience – not dogma – as the first guide to truth. In a fractured world, Francis’s actions demonstrated that faith does not fear differences, and that God is already present everywhere, waiting to be recognized.

Cry against War and Weapons

For Pope Francis peace was not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice, mercy, and human dignity. Early in his papacy, he denounced the global arms industry, calling its profiteers “merchants of death.” His moral clarity sharpened during moments of global crisis. He called the war in Ukraine “cruel and senseless,” and in response to the violence in Gaza and Israel, pleaded for humanitarian corridors, ceasefires, and diplomacy grounded in dignity. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he went beyond his predecessors, declaring that even the possession of nuclear weapons is morally indefensible.

These were acts of faith that does justice. These proclaimed that silence in the face of suffering of fellow humans is complicity – that neutrality is not an option when human life is at stake. To follow Christ, as Ignatius did, is to take a side – the side of life, of mercy, and of the sacred dignity of every person, even when the cost is high.

For Indians and Indian Jesuits

Though Pope Francis never visited India, he and his lifestyle had a great impact on Indians of all religions. His simplicity made us Indians recall Mahatma Gandhi and the way he dressed and travelled. His defence of the dignity of the marginalized resonated with Ambedkar’s cry for justice. His embrace of interfaith dialogue reminded us of Swami Vivekananda’s vision of religious fraternity.

For today’s Jesuits, Pope Francis’s life is a call for an honest examen and renewed communitarian discernment. His legacy is not meant to be admired from a distance, but to be lived with clarity and conviction. To honour him truly we need to live and speak as he did – for the greater glory of God.

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This was a podcast that featured two well-known American priests – one a Jesuit and the other a Franciscan friar. Both are eloquent speakers and inspiring writers. The Jesuit happened to be Gregory Boyle, SJ (Greg), the famous founder of Homeboy Industries, which is the world’s largest gang intervention programme. Greg’s ministry for the gang members for more than thirty years has given a new life to thousands of these youth, caught in a vicious web of poverty, lack of education, violence, drugs, jail or death. The Franciscan happened to be Richard Rohr, OFM (Richard), the well-known writer, speaker and spiritual guide.

The podcast took place a few days after Pope Francis died. Therefore the host says, “I’d love to ask you both about Pope Francis, whom we lost this week. He’s no longer walking with us on this earthly plane but has joined the cloud of witnesses. He was a Jesuit who had the aroma of a Franciscan.”

Then he turns to Greg and asks, “Greg, what was it about Pope Francis that most inspired or impacted you?” Greg says, “When he began his papacy, Whoopi Goldberg (the famous Afro-American actress of the Sister Act fame) said, “He’s going with the original program.” There was this acknowledgment: a return to the Gospel, a stance on the margins, with the poor and powerless. And that’s the original program. I always liked that.”

To the same question Richard replies, “All that has been on my mind is how will we ever match him again? … As radical as he was, while holding a sacral, high-priest role—it’s a rare combination. And he did it without arrogance. With this calm certitude: this is the original program. We don’t explain or apologize – we implement. He implemented the Gospel.”

Greg says, “For me Pope Francis always meant a return to the marrow of the Gospel. He uses that phrase. When I get caught in observance or adherence, that invitation back to the marrow is powerful.”

It is an article in this issue of INI that reminded me of this podcast. Shailendra Boora, SJ, in his tribute to Pope Francis, says, “The values of St Francis of Assisi – poverty, humility, peace, and care for creation – echoed Ignatius’s call to indifference, mission to the margins, and finding God in all things.”

Another article, by Francis P. Xavier, SJ, explains how St. Ignatius and the Ignatian pedagogy can be effectively used by Jesuit Business Management Schools. Cedric Prakash, SJ asserts that the cry of the earth is the cry of the poor. Justice for the poor demands justice for our planet earth. Errol Fernandes, SJ, the Scripture scholar, analyses Annotation 23 in the Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius, titled “The Principle and Foundation.” He explains what the triple purpose of life it provides could mean. In his report on the Stan Swamy Day – 2025, Santhanam Arockiasamy, SJ points out how the anniversary of the Jesuit social activist who spent his life for the poor tribal people of Chottanagpur is galvanizing people in both the secular and religious realms.

We are happy to release this issue of INI on a day, when we, here in India, celebrate both the freedom won by Mother India from her British colonizers and the freedom won by Mother Mary from death and corruption.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Feast of Mary’s Assumption!

– M.A. Joe Antony, SJ