Representatives meeting in the Aula of the Jesuit Curia, just steps from the Vatican, to elect a new Superior General will participate in a process akin to a papal conclave, complete with singing “Veni Creator Spiritus”. A former participant explains the method of voting

The next head of the Society of Jesus, the thirtieth Superior General since St Ignatius, will be elected by the General Congregation convening in Rome tomorrow. It is only the thirty-sixth congregation in our 476-year history and will include provincials and other elected representatives from each province, the number depending on its size. For the first time, Jesuit brothers will participate in the election.

From Britain, the provincial, Fr Dermot Preston, is joined by Fr Damian Howard, who lectures at Heythrop College, and Br Stephen Power, the province treasurer.

Ignatius invested the office of General with considerable powers. A centralised government, with full authority in the hands of one person, was one way that he gave the Society, whose members were dispersed on missions to many places, the unity it needed to be preserved and to develop.