On 20 May, the Ignatian Year of the Society of Jesus begins. This year the Jesuits celebrate a very strange event: the wounding of their founder Ignatius of Loyola at a battle in Pamplona in 1521. That event changed the course of his life; it led to the foundation of the Society of Jesus which in turn provoked dramatic changes in the Church and in the history of Catholicism. The Jesuits are celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the conversion of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It was a different kind of conversion. He went from being a vain nobleman focused on worldly success and fame to being the founder of the largest Catholic religious order. 

God gave the world and the Church a precious gift through Ignatius: a spirituality that helps to follow the Spirit in all circumstances of life. In the social apostolate the Secretary of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat, together with the Conference Social Delegates look with hope to this Ignatian year. They see this year as an opportunity to see the social ministry new in Christ. It is their ardent desire to see all things new in Jesus, the poor and the humble.