Fr. General Arturo Sosa SJ guest in Vienna, Austria.

Arturo Sosa SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, visits again and again provinces of the Society of Jesus in order to get an overview of the Order and the work of the Jesuits on site. In 2021 the provinces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Lithuania-Latvia will found the new Central European Province ECE. In the course of this Father General travels to all four provinces. From the 21th to the 23th of June he was a guest in Vienna in order to get to know the Austrian Province. Under the topic Building Bridges, the Jesuits in Austria introduced themselves to him.

The three days that Father General spent in Vienna were packed.

The first item was a press conference with representatives of the Austrian media. He asked himself questions about his home country Venezuela as well as about the international developments of the Society of Jesus and the forthcoming Amazon Synod. He also mentioned the new universal apostolic preferences which will give the Order its orientation over the next 10 years.

After the press conference, public transport was used to travel to the centre of Vienna, where lunch was served together with the Jesuits from Vienna, staff and refugees. The refugees found help and support through the projects Locugee (a project of the Jesuit Refugee Service JRS) and CONCORDIA social projects. Just two examples of social projects of the Jesuits in Austria and beyond, which, with the commitment of many supporters, enable refugees and people pushed to the edge by society to have a future worth living.

After a short, private city tour with Father Gustav Schörghofer SJ the meeting with the members of the Altkalksburger Vereinigung took place. Here already a full hall of interested people waited for Father General. Education and schools were and still are a big and important part of Jesuit work. Prayer was celebrated in the Stanislaus Chapel. Afterwards Father General and Bishop Christoph Schönborn met for a private conversation.

The evening was completely reserved for the Jesuits. It is a tradition that Father General meets with his fellow companion on site for an exchange.

On Saturday Father General was introduced to the works of the Austrian Province in a playful way. In two teams he and Provincial Bernhard Bürgler competed against each other. In Jesuit tradition, each team was accompanied by two assistants. They had to answer specific Austrian related questions and collect Mozarttaler. During the game there were stations where the individual locations of the Jesuits in Austria - Graz, Innsbruck, Linz and Vienna - were presented. Staff members and Jesuits talked about their work and its significance for them and the Jesuits. There were lots of opportunities for exchange and networking among the Jesuits and co-workers with Father General. In the evening people were invited to a Vespers followed by a conversation in the Konzilsgedächtniskirche.

The blessing of the new "Pedro Arrupe" event room and the mass in the full Jesuit church formed the conclusion of Father General's visit.