Jesuits gathered in Rome to elect a new superior general were invited to draw on "the audacity of the improbable" during a Mass to open their general congregation.
The order's voting delegates, the outgoing Jesuit superior, Fr Adolfo Nicolas, and Jesuits living in Rome celebrated the Mass at Rome's Church of the Gesu on October 2, before the tomb of their founder, St Ignatius of Loyola.
The principal celebrant at the Mass was Fr Bruno Cadore, superior general of the Dominicans. He said in his homily that the Society of Jesus is called "to dare the audacity of the 'improbable'" along with the "evangelical willingness to do it with the humility" of knowing everything depends on God.
