As mentioned in a previous article, Gonzalo Villagrán (ESP) was appointed as the new socius and treasurer of JCEP. He has started his mission on July 9th, succeeding Hermínio Rico (POR). After more than a decade in the academic world, he now steps into a role quite different from his previous work. Entering into this new mission Gonzalo expresses how he still feels a bit confused assuming so many new things at the working and daily life levels, but how he also feels confirmed of the great value of the mission realizing the service it supposes. These first days have started to show him how the service as Socius deals with sustaining the structures of possibility of the mission and helping it to stay fully focus in the Lord. We wish him all the best and we all pledge to be patient with him... at least during the first 100 days. 

In an interview with the Spanish Provincial Communications Office, Villagrán reflected on his hopes and challenges as he begins this new mission in Brussels. 

Interviewer: How are you approaching this new stage as socius (assistant) to the president of the Jesuit Conference of Provincials in Europe and the Middle East?
Gonzalo Villagrán: Well, to be honest, the past year has been emotionally intense. My assignment was confirmed several months ago—so there was time to process it, especially through prayer. What I feel most strongly is excitement and energy. A mission like this, which takes you out of your comfort zone and into unfamiliar tasks and places, I feel, kindles the deepest core of Jesuit vocation. It makes you feel more Jesuit. It invites you to put availability to the Lord’s will at the center and make other considerations secondary. Embracing it in that way energizes me and brings out the best in me.
At the same time, I’m honest enough to say that some aspects scare me. It gives me a bit of vertigo because it’s such a major change compared to what I’ve been doing the past twelve years in academia. In that sense, I’ve had to grieve a bit for academic life, from which I will have to distance myself—for at least a few years.
I’m also deeply grateful for the tremendous support and generosity of my parents and siblings as I embark on this geographically distant mission. I realize that what they told me when I entered the novitiate was true: ultimately your family lives your vocation with you, understanding it and making it part of their own journey as one advances within the Society of Jesus.

Interviewer: What exactly will your new responsibilities be?
Gonzalo Villagrán: My specific role will be as socius to the president of the Jesuit Conference of Provincials for Europe and the Middle East. "Socius" is Latin for “companion,” which is a beautiful definition of the position. A socius is a trusted secretary, a close companion to the provincial, handling much of the daily management to facilitate the provincial’s Jesuit governance. He is someone close by, helping with reflection and discernment regarding the province.
But I’m not just serving a provincial in the usual sense; I’ll be the socius to the president of the Conference of European and Near Eastern Provincials (JCEP)—a governance role in the Society that coordinates mission across a supra-provincial geographic area. The current JCEP president—whom I’ll work with closely—is Fr. Dalibor Renic, a Jesuit born in Bosnia-Herzegovina from the Province of Croatia.
Presently, the Society of Jesus has six conferences of provincials: Africa and Madagascar; Asia-Pacific; South Asia; the United States and Canada; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Europe and the Middle East. These conferences are relatively recent governance bodies—the JCEP’s initial steps were taken at the suggestion of Fr. Pedro Arrupe in 1972—and they bring together provincials across a broad geographic region to coordinate mission in that area.
The president of each conference holds the rank of provincial, but his role is more about coordination and structuring among the various provinces than direct governance of specific apostolic works. Interestingly, JCEP is the most wide-ranging Jesuit provincial conference, as it embraces not only Europe but also Jesuit presences in North Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East—spanning from Kyrgyzstan to Portugal, and from Egypt to Sweden.
In that sense, I understand my work will unfold along four main lines: managing the office of the Conference’s Curia in Brussels; organizing the conference’s provincials’ assemblies (held twice a year); participating in the president’s Consultation council for joint discernment on mission; and animating several of the existing inter-provincial working groups.

Interviewer: Tell us more about your university and administrative background.
Gonzalo Villagrán: My formation in the Society moved me early on into the academic world—specifically in Christian Social Thought and Social Theology. Since beginning my apostolic work in 2013, I’ve been mainly a professor and researcher in these fields, particularly focusing on Christian-Islamic dialogue.
This background proved especially relevant when I was asked to strengthen—and later to direct for four years—the Andalusian Chair for Interreligious Dialogue (CANDIR) at the Faculty of Theology of Loyola University in Granada. The role was closely aligned with my doctoral research on the public presence of religions in plural societies.
These years of academic work have taught me that intellectual and academic labor is a vital long-term service to mission—it allows for deep, long-range reflection that places human understanding in the service of mission.
Starting in 2018, administrative responsibilities grew in importance: I became Dean of the Faculty of Theology for five years, and since 2019, Deputy Delegate for the University Sector of the UNIJES Province. Administration has proven fascinating. It’s not what one dreams of when entering the Jesuits, but as one becomes deeply involved in mission, one realizes the urgent need to manage institutions and structures effectively so that the primary task can be carried out fruitfully. It’s not glamorous, but it’s a form of service that—when lived and integrated well—deeply embodies service.
I particularly highlight my six years as UNIJES Deputy Delegate. It involved building and deepening apostolic networks, a broader and more challenging managerial role than institutional governance—but incredibly beautiful because of the generosity it demands from everyone. I truly believe mission lies in network work pursued realistically and earnestly. And I think my work in the Conference of Provincials will involve much of this network-building.

Interviewer: Tell us more about yourself… what are your key sources of consolation and desolation, Gonzalo Villagrán?
Gonzalo Villagrán: Thank you for the interest—though I’m a bit uneasy speaking so directly about myself. I’d say my greatest consolations come from personal relationships and accompanying others on their journey with the Lord. This aspect of apostolic life in the Society has always given me deep consolation.
It has manifested in my life through teaching, directing theses, forming research teams, training lay collaborators in mission, accompanying leadership teams and institutions, engaging in common discernment in networks… but all these tasks that brought consolation have a common denominator. The most paradigm example of what gives me consolation is accompanying people making the spiritual exercises.
As for what I find disheartening: it's when I witness, in others or myself, a lack of vision or self-centeredness in confronting mission within networks. When a promising project or initiative falters because distrust, cost-benefit calculations, institutional wounds, or prejudices hinder collaboration—that’s deeply dispiriting.
Network work requires realism, because our human condition is limited—but one is always surprised by how often non-missional considerations carry more weight than mission in discernment. I’d say that in the same way as in other areas of Christian life, network work as the best service to mission calls both for efficiency and for each person’s conversion and evangelical generosity.

Interviewer: When and how did your Jesuit vocation arrive?
Gonzalo Villagrán: I studied at Colegio Portaceli—the Jesuit school in Seville. I didn’t make a deliberate vocational decision in those years, but I now realize that an Ignatian environment fostered a kind of spiritual soil in me that made me feel at home within Jesuit contexts.
My university years, also in Seville (I studied business administration and management), were a time of exploring various paths. In that context, I better appreciated my schooling at Portaceli and the pastoral opportunities I’d had.
Some more scattered years followed, but then I got involved in faith groups at the Centro Arrupe (a faith-culture center in Seville), took part in field work and retreats… The simple pastoral presence at Centro Arrupe—with Ignatian spirituality, prayer, contact with the poor, reflection on current affairs, and sacramental life—gave me strength to consider making the Spiritual Exercises in everyday life. They fit well with my schedule and life phase. I entered the “Exercises in everyday life” without a set expectation—just wanting to learn—but the experience was powerful whenever one engaged with heart and intent. That context allowed me to face the inner question: was the Lord calling me to the Society? I don’t think I could have asked that without such a spiritual experience.
The Exercises, and the setting of making choices within them, encouraged me to seek the pre-novitiate—and later entrance into the Society. I completed that month of the Exercises only a few weeks before entering the novitiate in September 1998. Since then, I have never ceased to feel confirmed in the response the Lord inspired in me at that time and in the movement the Spirit began in me through those Exercises in daily life.