Saturday 12 August, the tenth and final day of the World Assembly 2023. The morning was devoted to the election of the World Executive Council for the next five years, and the afternoon to work on drafting the final document. Which team to lead which direction?
After being proposed by the national communities, 32 people stood for election to the World Executive Council. The World Executive Council is made up of 7 elected members: the President, the Vice-President and 5 advisors.
There are also two ex-officio members:
- The World Ecclesiastical Assistant: the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, represented by the Vice-Ecclesiastical Assistant: P. José de Pablo sj.
- The World Executive Secretary: Manuel Martínez
The mandates of these last two are not renewed at the same time as the elected members, so they continue their work with the newly elected members.
James O’Brien (Australia), a member of the outgoing ExCo, was responsible for leading the elections. The following were elected in turn:
- Chairman: Chris Micallef (Malta)
- Vice-Chairman : Daphne Ho (Hong Kong)
- The five consultees: Franklin Ibañez (Peru), Catherine Waiyaki (Kenya), Inji Fayez (Egypt), Catherine Kelly (Canada), Cecilia Martínez (Spain).
To maintain a relaxed atmosphere, each ballot was interspersed with music and song. Each elected representative was invited to come up on stage as soon as the result of the vote was known to receive the blessing of the Assembly.
