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Society of Jesus Announces New Superior General

The Society of Jesus has announced Fr Arturo Sosa Abascal SJ, of the Venezuelan Province, as their 31st Superior General. Sosa succeeds Fr Adolfo Nicolȧs SJ.

Between 1996 and 2004, Sosa was Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Venezuela. Before that he had been coordinator of the social apostolate for the country and Director of Centro Gumilla, a centre of research and social action run by the Jesuits in Venezuela.

In 2014, Fr Sosa joined the General Curia community and took on the role of Delegate for Interprovincial Roman Houses of the Society of Jesus in Rome, which included: the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Vatican Observatory, Civiltà Cattolica, as well as international Jesuit colleges in Rome.

The new Fr General has had a long career focused principally on teaching and research. He has a Licence in Philosophy from the Catholic University Andrés Bello (1972) and has his doctorate in Political Sciences from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.He has been a professor and member of the Council of the Andrés Bello Catholic Foundation and Rector of the Catholic University of Tachira. He has pursued research and teaching in the field of political science in various institutions. In 2004, he was a visiting professor at the Latin American Studies Centre at Georgetown University in the United States. This was while he was a professor in the Department of Venezuelan political thought of the Catholic University of Tachira.