Pontifical Delegate for the Sodalitium will be created Cardinal by Pope Francisco

Pope Francisco announced the creation of twenty-one new cardinals on May 29th. Among them is F. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J; Pontifical Delegate for Formation in the Sodalitium and Assistant for the revision of our Constitutions, whom we congratulate on this appointment.

The Pontiff announced from the window of the Apostolic Palace facing St. Peter’s Square that on August 27th th he will hold a Consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals, including three heads of dicasteries of the Curia and sixteen electors.

As a community we express our gratitude to God and the Holy Father for the creation of the new cardinals and we congratulate in a special way F. Gianfranco Ghirlanda for the appointment. We offer our prayers so that Our Mother Mary guides this new stage of service to which the Lord invites her to live.

Ghirlanda has accompanied us in various important activities for our community, such as the conferences and seminars he gave us in 2017 as part of our renewal process. He also directed the spiritual exercises with which we began our V General Assembly and was present during it.

Likewise, since his appointment as Pontifical Delegate for Formation, F. Ghirlanda has closely accompanied the Ratio Formationis Committee, has directed spiritual exercises in Lima (Peru) and Rome (Italy), has given various formation courses and He currently accompanies us in the process of renewing our Constitutions.

Gianfranco Ghirlanda was born in Rome, Italy, on July 5th, 1942. In 1966 he obtained a doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of “La Sapienza” in Rome. That same year he entered the Society of Jesus. In 1973 he was ordained a priest and in 1978 he obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University and served as rector of the Gregorian from 2004 to 2010. F. Ghirlanda was appointed Delegate for formation at the Sodalitium in May 2019.