By Arul Elango
New Delhi: The superior general of the Society of Jesus, who is also known as the Black Pope, arrived in the Indian capital on February 18 on an 11-day visit to the country.
Father Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal, leader of worldwide Jesuits, who landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1:30 am was received by a team of Jesuits from the Delhi province.
Fr Sosa chose India as the first country to visit after his election on October 14, 2016, as the head of the largest Catholic religious congregation for men. India is part of the Jesuit’s South Asia region that accounts for 4,000 member of the 16,000-strong congregation.
He is the first Jesuit chief from Latin America, the same region of Pope Francis.
The Jesuit superior general sometimes carries the nickname of the Black Pope, after his simple black cassock, as contrasted to the white garb of the Pope.
Fr Sosa will be in India until February 28. Fr Sosa is accompanied by three Rome-based assistants who look after the society’s works in South Asia.
The superior general went directly to the Delhi Jesuit provincial house at Raj Nivas Marg from the airport. After a brief rest, he was scheduled to attend a series of programs with his men.
The 68-year-old leader will address the staff and students of Vidyajyoti (Light of Knowledge) the Jesuit theologate in the morning. During the day, he will meet Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad, who had worked in Venezuela earlier as a Vatican diplomat.
Another program for the day is the ordination of 23 Jesuits as deacons at Vidyajyoti in the afternoon. In the evening, he will address Delhi Jesuits and interact with them in the premise of Delhi Provincial House.
On February 19, Father Sosa will head for Jabalpur, a major town in Madhya Pradesh, to meet all Jesuit provincials of South Asia. The South Asia Jesuit Conference meets twice in a year.
The general will be at the meeting until February 25. On the same day he will address Madhya Pradesh Jesuits in Jabalpur and then at Ambikapur the following day. He is scheduled to bless the apostolic school in Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh for Jesuit candidates.
Fr Sosa will then go to Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, on February 27. On the way, he will open another school building near Bilaspur, another town in Chhattisgarh.
The South Asia conference comprises Jesuits working in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It has 18 provinces and two regions.