The Jesuits are shifting their missionary work in Pakistan to the Asia-Pacific region due to the current political situation in South Asia.
Jesuit superior general Father Arturo Sosa made the announcement in a March 28 message to Father Antonio Moreno, president of the Jesuit Conference of Asia-Pacific (JCAP).
The change will come into effect on April 1.
The Pakistan mission has been served by the Jesuits in Sri Lanka, who come under the Conference of South Asia, comprising of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
The Jesuits’ global website said Pakistan currently has three Jesuits working in Lahore and five scholastics studying in Indonesia.
“For several years now, the Pakistan mission has been entrusted to the Sri Lanka Province. Recently however, difficulties have arisen that have made it extremely difficult for Sri Lanka to support the mission in Pakistan,” read Father Sosa’s letter.
He said “geopolitical factors have severely restricted travel from Sri Lanka to Pakistan.”
“Second, an acute shortage of Jesuit personnel in Sri Lanka has come to a point that the Province is no longer able to send Jesuits to Pakistan, now or in the near future,” he said.
He said that other countries in South Asia should help Pakistan given their geographical and cultural proximity to Pakistan. “Unfortunately, neither is this possible, given the longstanding hostility between India and Pakistan, and the impossibility of travel between these two countries,” said the priest.
The Asia-Pacific region will manage the Pakistan mission for three years on an experimental basis, he added.
“I am confident, Fr. Moreno, that with your leadership and the assistance from the other Major Superiors of Asia Pacific, the mission in Pakistan will be able to carry on with its good work, and receive adequate guidance, sustenance, and support,” read Father Sosa’s letter.
The Society of Jesus has six regional conferences that coordinate and facilitate its mission around the world.
The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific covers 16 countries in the region — Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam.
The superior general appoints a president to oversee the work of each Jesuit conference. The president, in turn, works in union with the heads of the provinces and regions in the region.
The Asia-Pacific region, with its headquarters in the Philippines, has about 1,600 Jesuits, accounting for about 10 percent of the total number of Jesuits in the world.
