Vatican City, November 28, 2024
Effective January 1, 2025, Fr. Cristóbal Fones SJ will take on the role of International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (which encompasses the Apostleship of Prayer groups and the Eucharistic Youth Movement). He will lead this newly organizational structure alongside with two deputy directors, following the new Statutes approved by Pope Francis in July 2024.
Appointed by the Holy Father, upon the recommendation of Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Fones succeeds Fr. Frédéric Fornos SJ in the mission for a five-year term. This Pontifical Work is entrusted to the Society of Jesus.
A 49-year-old Chilean Jesuit, Fr. Fones joined the Society of Jesus in March 1994. After completing his initial formation, he spent two years in an indigenous community in southern Chile. He completed his first cycle of theological studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, and earned a canonical licentiate in Sacramental and Liturgical Theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Additionally, he studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Ordained as a priest in August 2007, he made his final religious vows in November 2014 at the Shrine of St. Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile.
Fr. Fones has an extensive experience in spiritual accompaniment, both lay and religious young adults. His first priestly assignment involved pastoral leadership at San Ignacio El Bosque School, followed by work with the vocations team in collaboration with various dioceses on an itinerant mission. Throughout this period, he has enriched his ministry with artistic and musical creativity.
Delegate for the Formation of Jesuits in the Chilean Province, he was invited to join the international leadership team of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, based in Rome, in January 2024.
We give thanks to the Lord for this appointment and entrust Fr. Fones’s upcoming mission to His care, in service to the entire Church.