Excerpts from the Document of General Congregation – 34

“We recognize that Universities remain crucial institutional settings in Society. For the poor, they serve as major channels for social advancement. In and through Universities, important debates take place about ethics, future directions of economics and politics and the very meaning of human existence that shape our Culture”.

Excerpts from the Document of General Congregation – 35

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between the rich and the poor establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanisms and links among our present problems. Many Jesuits in educational, social promotion and research institutions together with others engaged directly with the poor are already committed to this work.

This congregation urges all Jesuits and all partners engaged in the same mission, particularly the universities and research centres, to continue promoting studies and practices focusing on the causes of poverty and the improvement of the environment. We should find ways in which our experiences with refugees, the poor, and the displaced, on the one hand, and people who work for the protection of the environment, on the other hand, could interact with those institutions so that the research result and advocacy would be of practical benefit to society and to the environment