Ignatius of Loyola Print

St Ignatius according to Benedict XVI

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On April 22, 2006, the pope said: "St. Ignatius of Loyola was first and foremost a man of God who in his life put God, his greatest glory and his greatest service, first. He was a profoundly prayerful man for whom the daily celebration of the Eucharist was the heart and crowning point of his day.

Thus, he left his followers a precious spiritual legacy that must not be lost or forgotten. Precisely because he was a man of God, St Ignatius was a faithful servant of the Church, in which he saw and venerated the Bride of the Lord and the Mother of Christians. And from his desire to serve the Church in the most beneficial way possible was born the special vow of obedience to the Pope, which he himself describes as “our first and principal foundation”.