The International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education (ICAJE) convened in Rome from May 21st to 24th, 2024, to address significant topics for Jesuit secondary and pre-secondary education. Attendees included representatives from the six conference networks that form the Jesuit Global Network of Schools (JGNS), the General Coordinator of Fe y Alegria, the Secretary for Education, members of Educate Magis and the Assistant to the Secretariat.

This year, the meeting included a special audience with Pope Francis. During this encounter, the Pope expressed his gratitude for the work done in our Jesuit schools and Companion Schools, as he highlighted the transformative potential of Ignatian education and emphasized the importance of keeping Jesus at the heart of our mission. In his message, he urged educators to lead by example, and our schools to put the formation of educators at the center, offering the necessary training to discover their vocations as educators. Pope Francis also recalled the Global Compact on Education, calling for a shift from a culture of the ‘I’ to the culture of the ‘we,’ and stressed the importance of patience and perseverance in the long-term task of education.

Some of the key discussions and presentations held during the meeting: 

• Each ICAJE member delivered a presentation on the current state of Jesuit education in their region, focusing on the preparation for the II Seminar JESEDU-Jogja2024, engagement with Educate Magis, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. The reports highlighted the enduring impact of the pandemic, including long-term changes in educational practices and strategies for fostering resilience among schools.
• The Secretary for education shared updates on various projects and initiatives, emphasizing their alignment with the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) and their ongoing support to global educational collaboration.
• ICAJE members shared their proposals on initiatives for enhancing inter-regional collaboration, sharing best practices, and establishing spaces for joint reflection.
• Participants engaged in a spiritual conversation to discern ways for Educating for Faith in the 21st Century. This dialogue builds on the topics that a group of Jesuit educators from around the world will be discussing in the Global II Seminar JESEDU-Jogja2024, that will take place in June 2024 in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Fr. James Hanvey SJ, Secretary of the Service of Faith participated in this conversation.
• The representatives of Educate Magis presented updates on their projects, emphasizing their role in building an online apostolic community of Jesuit educators. The feedback from ICAJE was gathered to better meet the needs of the network and enhance their offerings.
• The Organizing Committee of JESEDU-Jogja2024 presented the updates on the organization for the upcoming seminar in Indonesia. ICAJE members provided valuable feedback to refine the event.
• John Guiney SJ and Dr. Sandra Racionero joined the meeting to share with ICAJE the details of the PCCP Project (Promoting a Consistent Culture of Protection in our Schools), that was introduced by Fr. General Arturo Sosa SJ in late 2023.

 Special Highlight: Audience with Pope Francis

On Friday the 24th, the meeting participants had an audience with Pope Francis. The purpose was to express the commitment of the Jesuit Schools to support and promote the New Global Compact of Education launched by Pope Francis. We also presented the Pope with a copy of the document Jesuit Schools: A Living Tradition in the 21st Century, and a special edition of the Educate Magis Global Map of the Schools.

As part of this encounter, the Pope shared an inspiring speech in which he expressed his gratitude to Society of Jesus for her work in the schools, highlighting the immense evangelizing potential of education that St. Ignatius and his companions soon realized. He emphasized that Jesuit education must keep Jesus at its center, integrating the Gospel into the schools and “accompanying young people so that they discover in service to others and in academic rigor the construction of the common good”. Pope Francis reminded us that Fr. Arrupe’s call for “educating people for others” means to define education by “its humanizing results and not its economic results”. The Pope praised the effort to turn education from a personal success mindset to one that focuses on collective well-being, advocating for a shift from the culture of ‘I’ to ‘we’. He stressed that true education involves leading by example and urged educators to accompany and develop their students, especially those at the margins of our societies. Finally, he highlighted the importance of the upcoming JESEDU-Jogja2024 Seminar in deepening the meaning and connection of the first Universal Apostolic Preference and the others: “without a true relationship between educators and the Lord, none of the rest is possible”. Read full speech

Closing remarks

The meeting concluded with a Eucharist in the “rooms of Ignatius,” where St. Ignatius of Loyola spent his final days. Fr. José Mesa SJ remarked, “This meeting was pivotal in reinforcing our mission as a global network. The topics we addressed are crucial for the future of Jesuit education, and ICAJE remains a vital force in our journey toward becoming a universal body with a universal mission.”

After the Eucharist, the participants went to St. Ignatius Church asking, before the tomb of St. John Berchman’s -patron of the Jesuit Global Network of Schools, for strength and perseverance in our service to the mission of the Society entrusted to us by the Church.