Often we have been congratulated at the Jesuit Centre of Spirituality here in Halifax because the new Pope, Jorge Bergoglio who is now Pope Francis, is a Jesuit. Of course we are delighted that he is a Jesuit. But membership in the Society was of no consequence in his choice and is no motive for congratulations. One point that certainly stood out for the cardinal electors was his lifelong dedication to the basic values of apostolic religious life as lived in the Society, and this was strong enough to counter arguments that he was too old.

A similar dynamic occurred in the General Congregation (world-wide assembly of Jesuit provincial superiors and elected delegates) which elected Adolfo Nicolás as the Jesuit general superior in 2008. Nicolás had all the credentials and the qualities, and this fact prevailed over concerns about his age (he is now slightly older than Pope Francis, and still going strong).

These basic apostolic religious values are espoused by Jesuits but broader than the Society of Jesus. Note that the new Jesuit Pope chose the name of the founder of the Franciscans, and has just appointed one of the major Franciscan leaders in Rome to be the second-in-command of the Vatican congregation that regulates religious life. Pope Francis is a Jesuit in a broad and welcoming way.

Ignatius admired Francis of Assisi because the latter loved poverty. This quality Ignatius wanted for his Jesuits. So obviously did Bergoglio for himself and for the Church. In his life-style as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires he did not show off his prerogatives and dignity as a prince of the Church. Rather he lived in solidarity with the poor, in a simple apartment rather than in a palace, using public transit rather than allowing himself to be whisked around in a limousine. He spent time with the poor and served them as best he could, made his sermons and celebrations accessible to them. And he is finding ways to do the same as the Bishop of Rome.

A second quality, perhaps a more characteristically Jesuit one, which Benedict XVI affirmed for the Society, and Pope Francis for priests world-wide, is that of reaching out to people on the frontiers (Benedict’s term used in an allocution to the Jesuits assembled for the General Congregation in 2008) or on the outskirts (Francis’ term used in his Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday). Rather than being self-referential, the Church must reach out to the whole range of human beings, from faithful believers all the way to atheists, discovering their concerns and issues, and proposing the truth of the Gospel to them.

Both Benedict and Francis picked up on this key dimension of Ignatian ministry, and Francis has applied it not just to Jesuits but to priests world-wide. Let us who are priests not stick to our sacristies, breathing in their stale air, but go to a world in turmoil, and breathe in the bracing air of constant challenges accompanied by deep hope that this turmoil is in reality a new world being born.

So we are delighted not so much in the choice of a cardinal who is a member of the Society of Jesus, but in the choice of a cardinal who has made his own the religious values of Ignatius Loyola, values which Ignatius in large part derived from earlier religious founders such as Dominic and Francis but brought to a unique focus. May Pope Francis be an inspiration to us in our own ministry of outreach to those on the margins, especially within our own country. In allowing him to inspire us we will be faithful to our own charism.