Pedro Arrupe y Gondra, (14 November 1907 – 5 February 1991) was a Basque Spanish Catholic priest who served as the 28th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. He has been called a second founder of the Society, which he led in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, especially with regard to faith that does justice and preferential option for the poor.
In 1983, paralysis from a stroke caused Arrupe to resign from office. He lived on until 1991, when he died in the local Jesuit infirmary.
Subsequent to these gathered findings, Arrupe decided not continue his medical studies. On 15 January 1927, he joined the Society of Jesus.
He was unable to pursue his studies for the priesthood in Spain because the Jesuits had been expelled by the Spanish Republican government (1931–1939), so he pursued his studies in the Netherlands and Belgium and at Saint Louis University School of Divinity in St. Marys, Kansas, where he was ordained in 1936. Arrupe then completed a doctorate in Medical Ethics.
Assignment in Hiroshima, Japan
After his doctorate, Arrupe was sent to work as a missionary in Japan. His early years as missionary were very frustrating for him, with few Japanese converts. The surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, widened the war. On 8 December Arrupe was celebrating Mass when Japanese authorities arrested and imprisoned him, on suspicion he was a spy. He expected to be executed. On Christmas Eve, Arrupe heard people gathering outside his cell door and he presumed he was about to be executed. However, the gathering was of fellow Catholics who had come to sing Christmas carols to him. Arrupe recalled that he burst into tears. Arrupe used his medical skills to help the wounded and the dying. The Jesuit novitiate was converted into a makeshift hospital, where between 150 and 200 people received care. Arrupe recalled, "The chapel, half destroyed, was overflowing with the wounded, who were lying on the floor very near to one another, suffering terribly, twisted with pain."
In 1958, Arrupe was appointed the first Jesuit provincial for Japan, a position he held until being elected Father General in 1965.
Prior to being elected Father General, Arrupe visited Latin America, where he saw the region's extreme inequality. The strength of faith among the poor deeply impressed him.
Superior General
At the thirty-first General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in 1965, Arrupe was elected twenty-eighth Superior General of the Jesuits, and served in that post until 1983. He was the second Basque to be Father General, the first being the founder Ignatius of Loyola himself. At his election, Moscow Radio spoke of an unusual man who would bring the Society of Jesus to its powers of the past.
After the changes following Vatican II (1962–1965), there was tension within the Society as to how the life of a Jesuit was to be lived. While some religious groups in the Catholic church have limits on the works they take on, the Society of Jesus encourages its members to follow their interest and talents and the needs of the times into a whole range of ministries – as theologians, missionaries, retreat directors, teachers, artists, writers, musicians, counselors, scientists, and pastors – to bring glory to God in all areas of human endeavor. This is in line with the crowning contemplation of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises through which Jesuits learn to find God in all things (#236). As Arrupe's biographer said of him, he "saw the hand of God in everything."
At the thirty-second General Congregation which convened in 1975, Arrupe's dream of working for the poor was crystallised in the document "Our Mission Today: the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice." It stated: "Our faith in Jesus Christ and our mission to proclaim the Gospel demand of us a commitment to promote justice and enter into solidarity with the voiceless and the powerless." Thus, the decree basically defined all the work of the Jesuits as having an essential focus on the promotion of social justice as well as the Catholic faith. Arrupe was keenly aware that in the political climate of the 1970s, the Jesuits’ commitment to working for social justice would bring great hardship and suffering, particularly in those Latin American countries ruled by military juntas.
In a speech to European educators Arrupe made it clear where he stood on matters of faith and justice, saying: "I take very seriously the words of Gandhi, 'I love Christ but I despise Christians because they do not live as Christ lived.' Without a doubt Christian love of neighbor entails a duty to care for the wounds of those that have fallen victim to robbers and are left bleeding by the wayside."
A cause worth dying for
On 20 June 1977 the White Warriors Union death squad threatened to kill all 47 Jesuits serving in El Salvador unless they abandoned their work with the poor and left the country within a month. After consulting with the Jesuit community in El Salvador, Arrupe replied "They may end up as martyrs, but my priests are not going to leave because they are with the people.") was gunned down whilst celebrating the Eucharist on 24 March 1980. Lay missionary Jean Donovan, Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel and Maryknoll sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford were beaten, raped and murdered by non-uniformed members of the Salvadoran National Guard on 2 December 1980. They joined some 75,000 Salvadorans who were killed during this troubled period. Over the years JRS had served an estimated 40 million refugees. With new respect for the Jesuits, Pope John Paul allowed Dezza to call the thirty-third General Congregation and elect a successor to Arrupe, whose resignation was accepted on 3 September 1983 during the Congregation. He was succeeded by Peter Hans Kolvenbach. During the opening Session of the Congregation, Arrupe was wheeled into the hall, and a prayer which he had written was read aloud: