As a result of and continuation of the Symposium on the Mystagogies of the Exercises 500 years later (June 2022), the Spirituality Center of the Cova Sant Ignasi (CIEI), the Ignatian School of Spirituality (EIDES) and an Intercontinental Committee have taken the task of convening a biennial Symposium on a specific issue related to Ignatian practice. The theme chosen for next June 2026 (15th to 19th) is how the experience of the Exercises can promote an awareness and a change in attitude. Through speakers from various parts of the world who are engaged in this field and who have reflected on the spiritual experience it entails, we will study the Four Weeks of the Exercises in order to explore the potential they contain to respond to this challenge.
The Symposium is aimed primarily at those who accompany the Exercises, have responsibilities in the formation of Ignatian spirituality or direct Retreat Centers and Houses of Spirituality.
Online registration gives access to the live broadcast of the Symposium presentations and communications on 15, 16, 17,18 and 19 June 2026 from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, CEST (Central European Summer Time) / UTC +2, as well as access to the recordings of the same to access them later (in case of not being able to connect live).
In light of the instances of abuse and disorder that are coming to light in the Church and society in the last years, we wish to address the affective-sexual dimension of the human condition from an integral and integrative perspective, relating it to the healing and spiritually transformative capacity proposed by the Spiritual Exercises.
The symposium is conceived based on the process of the Four Weeks. The mornings are reserved for the lectures. Three each day: the first presents a general approach to the issue; the second explicitly addresses the text of the Exercises from this specific perspective; and the third is testimonial-experiential. The afternoons are focused, first for individual work, then for sharing in small groups, and finally, concluding with a discussion and reflection in a general assembly.
The Symposium is aimed primarily at those who accompany the Exercises, have responsibilities for Ignatian spirituality formation or manage Retreat Centers and Houses of Spirituality. The Symposium is in person by invitation and can also be followed ON LINE.
Language: Symposium languages will be Spanish and English with simultaneous translation of both languages.
Timetable and Schedule:
Cost: 125 euros
This registration is non- refundable
N.B.: The present program may be subject to change
For more details of the program you can check the complete program of the presential modality of the Symposium here, which will take place in the mornings and afternoons:
MONDAY 15TH: PRINCIPLE AND FOUNDATION
1. The bodily-affective-sexual integration of the human being and its theological and spiritual dimension. Speaker: Loïc Mben SJ (ITCJ-Abidjan)
2. The Spiritual Exercises, a school of the heart? Speaker: Sylvie Robert, SA (Paris)
3. Human psychosexuality in the relationship of accompaniment during the Spiritual Exercises. Speaker: Rufino Meana SJ (Comillas - Madrid)
Panel Discussion
Professor of theological ethics at the Jesuit Institute of Theology of the Society of Jesus (ITCJ) in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoir)
Agrégée in classical literature, Doctor of Theology and Religious history (Catholic University of Lyon / Lumière University Lyon II), member of the animation team of the Manrèse Spiritual Center (part-time), head of the world religions department and professor at the Sèvres Center
Professor of Clinic Psichology and Spiritual Discernment in Universidad Pontificia Comillas.
TUESDAY 16TH: FIRST WEEK
1. Wounds of affectivity and their consequences on the experience of one's own corporeality and sexuality. Speaker: Regina Cárdenas (Comillas - Madrid)
2. Sexuality, Guilt, and Sin in the First Week. Speaker: Carlos Dominguez Morano SJ (Granada)
3. How to accompany the victim? Speaker: Maite Valls, RJM (Barcelona)
Panel Discussion
Degree in Medicine (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology (Hospital Gregorio Marañón),
Doctor in Bioethics (Universidad Pontificia de Comillas)
Doctor in Theology, Philosophy and Educational Sciences. Degree in Psychology. Psychoanalytic training in Paris and Madrid. Psychotherapist
Health Psychologist Master in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Master in Cognitive, Constructivist and Systemic Psychotherapy (Barcelona)
WEDNESDAY 17TH: SECOND WEEK
1. Maturation of affectivity in the Second Week of the Exercises. Speaker: Francisco Javier de la Torre (Comillas - Madrid)
2. How Jesus reached out to those on the margins in his public ministry. Speaker: James Martin SJ (USA). ON - LINE
3. Accompanying the complex processes of sexual orientation and gender identity in the Church. Speakers: María Luisa Berzosa (Daughter of Jesus) and Alberto Elices (Crismhom - Madrid)
Panel Discussion
Doctor of Law and graduate in Philosophy and Moral Theology from the Pontifical University of Comillas
Editor at large of America Media, consultor to the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication. Author of many books.
Director of Spiritual Exercises and spiritual companion, with priority to groups of sexual diversity and abused women in the church. Facilitator in the two synodal assemblies
Founding member of CRISMHOM. He has been president, vice-president and secretary of the institution
THURSDAY 18TH: THIRD WEEK
1. Anthropological-psychological framework on the characteristics of the victim and the perpetrator. Prevention and recovery. Speaker: Judith Schonsteiner (CLC-Chile)
2. Elements of the Third Week ES that can help those who have suffered abuse. Speaker: Patrick Goujon SJ (Facultés Loyola Paris - Campion Hall-Oxford)
3. Support for victims and perpetrators in cases of sexual abuse. Speaker: Gemma Simmonds, CJ (Former President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain)
Panel Discussion
PhD in Law and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, specializing in the Social Doctrine of the Church. She is a university professor at the Human Rights Center of Diego Portales University in Santiago, Chile. Member of CLC
Senior Research Fellow in Theology and History of Spirituality at Campion Hall-University Oxford and Professor of Theology at Loyola Faculty in Paris.
Teaching pastoral Theology and Christian spirituality at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge, UK.
FRIDAY 19TH: FOURTH WEEK
1. Mysticism and sexuality: keys from the feminine historical experience. Speaker: Marimar Graña Cid (Comillas - Madrid)
2. Contemplation to Attain Love: Human fulfilment synonymous with maturity in love: marriage and celibacy. Speaker: Stefan Kiechle, SJ (Germany)
3. Two testimonies of the path toward emotional and sexual maturity in one's own life choices.
Speakers: María Dolores López Guzmán (Spain) and Andrés Hernández Caro, SJ (Colombia).
Panel Discussion
PhD in Medieval History from the Complutense University of Madrid and professor of Church History and Medieval Feminine Mysticism at the Comillas Pontifical University (Madrid)
Doctor in Ignatian Spirituality. Having taught in several theological institutes. Novice master and provincial. Today, he leads a formation program for directing SE. He is editor of the cultural review “Stimmen der Zeit”. Lives in Munich.
Responsible for the protection and care of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She also dedicates herself to spiritual guidance, spiritual counseling, and spiritual writing (calligraphy, icons, publications)
Lawyer, bachelor of Philosophy and Theology and Master's degree in Ignatian Spirituality. He is currently the Director of the San Francisco Javier Pastoral Center at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.
