Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: More than three thousand people participated in the concluding Eucharist marking the arrival of the first Jesuits in Vietnam 400 years ago. Fr. General joined the group of 15 Bishops and Jesuits of Vietnam in making this great occasion a key event in the history of the Society of Jesus.

The Jesuits who arrived in Vietnam soon after the death of Matteo Ricci in Beiging in 1610, were inspired by his style and began to make friendship with the local people by learning their language and culture. For instance, the works of a French Jesuit, Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660), led to the adoption of Romanized script for the Vietnamese language which is still used today.

Though the suppression of the Jesuits was brought about one and half century after their arrival initially, in 1957, the South Vietnamese government invited them to help develop universities, followed by requests from bishops in Vietnam to assist in training local clergy.