Cause opened for Pedro Arrupe SJ

On February 5th 2019 - the 28th anniversary of his death - the cause for the beatification and canonisation of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ opened in Rome.

Born in Spain in 1907, Pedro entered the Jesuits in 1927, was ordained in 1936 and in 1938 moved to Japan to work as a missionary. He was there throughout the War - in 1945 he was living only seven kilometres away from Hiroshima, and nursed as many casualties as he could. This experience profoundly affected him. He was Superior General of the Jesuits from 1965 to 1983, during which time he founded the Jesuit Refugee Service in 1980, and led the Jesuits in post-Vatican II renewal. Following a debilitating stroke he spent his last ten years as an invalid, dying in 1991.

Read a personal reflection on Fr Arrupe from Michael Campbell-Johnson SJ