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Catholic World News News Feature

Jesuit superior officially steps down January 15, 2008

The 35th general congregation of the Society of Jesus has formally accepted the resignation of Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach as the Jesuit superior general.

When he first announced plans for the general congregation, in February 2006, Father Kolvenbach indicated that he would step down as the worldwide head of the Jesuit order, which he had led since 1983. His resignation has created an unprecedented situation for the Jesuits: for the first time in the 470-year history of the order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the general congregation will elect a successor to a living and healthy superior general.

The election of the new general superior will take place later this week; an announcement is expected on Saturday, January 19.

The general congregation is conducting its business in private, without media coverage, in the Gesu, the historic Jesuit church near the Vatican. But a formal statement was released on January 14 reporting that Father Kolvenbach's resignation had been accepted.

In a parting statement, Father Kolvenbach thanked all of the world's Jesuits for their dedication to the Jesuit mission "under the banner of the cross and under the Vicar of Christ on earth," and promised his prayerful support for his successor. He said that "despite a disconcerting diversity of persons and cultures, of desires and works, our union of minds and hearts has never failed, and, despite an increasing fragility, the Society retains the capacity of apostolic dialogue before the challenges of the modern world in proclaiming the one Good News."