Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ, SI ) is a Roman Catholic Church religious order whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.

Jesuits are the largest male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church with 19,216 members (13,491 priests, 3,049 scholastic students, 1,810 brothers and 866 novices).

The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of the Madonna Della Strada.  It is led by a Superior General, currently Arturo Sosa.

The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome.

Within the Catholic Church, there has been a sometimes tense relationship between Jesuits and the Vatican.  This is due to questioning of official Church teaching and papal directives, such as those on abortion, birth control, women deacons, homosexuality, and liberation theology.
However, as of 2025, the previous and most recent Pope, Pope Francis, was a Jesuit.
References

 Other websites 
 Jesuit documents 
 The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599 
 The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, 1591-1610 


 Jesuit websites 
 The Jesuit Portal - Jesuit Worldwide Homepage

Africa
 Jesuits in South Africa 

Asia-Oceania
 Jesuits in the Philippines

Europe
 Jesuits in Britain

North America
 Jesuits in Canada
 United States Jesuit Conference

South America
Jesuits in Chile

 Media 
 The BBC Radio 4 In Our Time programme on 18 January 2007 was devoted to the early history and educational role of the Jesuits; the programme's website offers a free podcast and 'listen again' service In Our Time website
 Pray-as-you-go: latest initiative by the British Jesuits, providing daily prayer in MP3 format for use "on the go"
 Documentary by the Society of Jesus Province of Chicago (Windows Media Player)