Six years ago, the Society of Jesus received the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) from Pope Francis. Jesuits around the world are now in the second phase of their implementation. Focusing on the fourth UAP – to collaborate in the care of our common home – on Monday, April 28, 2025, the General Curia, launched a new website: www.ecojesuit.com. There you will find the final report of a survey conducted by the Secretariat for Social Justice and Ecology (SJES) as well as a cache of articles, program descriptions and an article in tribute to our beloved Pope Francis.
Full Text of Superior General Arturo Sosa’s Letter to the International Society
22 April 2025
Dear friends in the Lord,
Five years ago, following a period of discernment, we received the Universal Apostolic Preferences 2019-2029 (UAPs) from Pope Francis. In his mission letter to the Society of Jesus, Pope Francis confirmed that these preferences align with the Church’s priorities as expressed through the ordinary magisterium of the Pope, the Synods, and the Episcopal Conferences, especially since the publication of Evangelii Gaudium.
At the threshold of the second phase of the implementation of the UAPs, in June 2024, we asked the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat to study how we, as a universal apostolic body, are responding to the fourth Universal Apostolic Preference: To Collaborate in the Care of Our Common Home.
The survey revealed that numerous positive developments are occurring worldwide across Jesuit Regions, Provinces and Conferences of Major Superiors. We have gone beyond good intentions. We have made significant progress, but there are still challenges to face:
- Our plans must always include the poor and marginalised; their voices must be heard and responded to.
- We need to improve in working together in caring for our Common Home as Provinces, Regions, networks and Conferences of Major Superiors.
- We must also collaborate with other groups beyond our own apostolates to advocate for climate justice.
We are all called to share and celebrate the gift of Ignatian spirituality and its pedagogy, embracing a culture of responsible stewardship for sustainable and integral development, being close to the poor and their critical challenges, and promoting public policies that will ensure actions agreed upon to reverse worldwide environmental degradation. These plans include replacing fossil fuels as the primary source of energy generation, controlling environmentally destructive mining and exploitation, and preserving water sources, lands and biodiversity, among other objectives.
The interconnected UAPs invite us to draw inspiration and spiritual strength from our charismatic sources. Collaborating in the care of our Common Home means fulfilling our moral responsibility to renew our relationships with God, with one another, and with all creation. Collaborating in the care of our Common Home means walking with the poor and vulnerable as climate change intensifies their suffering and perpetuates the causes that produce unjust structures. Collaborating in the care of our Common Home means accompanying youth, whom Pope Francis honours as those “who are building the future today, in the present.”[i] The environmental destruction caused by the dominant economic system not only affects those currently living on earth but also conditions and jeopardises the lives of future generations. As expressed by Native American Chief Seattle: “We don’t inherit the earth; we borrow it from our children.”[ii]
The SJES has a particular role in leading and animating the whole apostolic body of the Society of Jesus in our faith commitment to Social Justice and Ecology. Still, the fourth UAP is the responsibility of all of us. Let’s bring together ideas, time, and resources; let’s unite our desires, wills, and plans to take better care of our Common Home.
As we continue to assimilate and implement the UAPs during this Jubilee Year of Hope, may we find our trust in God and place it solely in Him. May Our Lady obtain for us the grace of integrity of life, so that we may effectively collaborate for the reconciliation of all things in Christ.
Arturo Sosa, S.J.
General Superior
[i] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-09/pope-francis-video-message-youth4climate-cop26.html
[ii] Attributed to many authors inter alia Chief Seattle, Oscar Wilde, Wendell Barry
