Pedro Arrupe SJ - Mystic with Open Eyes

Preparations to launch the Cause of Jesuit leader Fr Pedro Arrupe have begun.

The general postulator of the Society of Jesus said he had begun compiling all of the writings of Jesuit Fr Pedro Arrupe and seeking eyewitnesses who can attest to the holiness of order's late superior general.

Born in Spain, Fr Arrupe entered the Society of Jesus in 1927. Following the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1932, he continued his studies in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. After ordination, he was sent to Japan in 1938. He was serving in a Japanese mission outside Hiroshima when the United States dropped the atomic bomb there in 1945. The Jesuit priest, who studied medicine before entering the society, and several companions "were able to give aid to 150 victims".