Jesuit spokesman contrasts Pope Francis's closeness, actions of previous popes (General Curia, Society of Jesus)

In a reflection for the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a Jesuit spokesman wrote that Pope Francis’s 2013 World Youth Day in Brazil was “my first experience of the leader of the Catholic Church ‘smelling like his sheep.’”

“I had been part of World Youth Day since 1993 and had seen how Pope John Paul II & Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the events,” wrote Father Robert Ballecer, SJ, a communication official at the Jesuit general curia. “Francis was different ... He encouraged the assembled bishops and cardinals to be WITH their young adults, rather than watching them from a distance.”

“Pope Leo XIV is a worthy successor to Peter, and I believe he will guide the Church with the same love and sense of service that I appreciated about Francis,” Father Ballacer added, as he prayed that “this first Feast Day since the passing of the first Jesuit Pope may be one of celebration and gratitude for our brother Francis.”