The first week of February begins with sad, yet beautiful news. Father Jesús Hortal Sánchez SJ passed away in São Paulo, just shy of turning 99 on February 16th. The sadness comes from feeling poorer without the living presence and still so lucid of this great man, great Jesuit, and great educator. But beauty prevails over sadness when contemplating this long life, which leaves behind such a deep and fruitful legacy, and which has marked so many generations.
I met Fr. Hortal when I was still a newly minted doctor in Theology, a young professor at PUC-Rio. The new director was arriving from the south of the country, Spanish Jesuit, a great specialist in Canon Law. Our expectation was that of someone serious and rigid, a lover of the Law and disciplined. But… would the new director have the flexibility necessary for the complex web of a Theology department’s mission at a prestigious Catholic university where an atmosphere of political commitment and the struggle for human rights was breathed, among other secular causes?
He arrived and little by little **won over the teaching staff with his competence, firmness, delicacy, and great sense of humor**. He faced difficult and delicate situations, always knowing how to skillfully manage fidelity to the Church and the open space of academic freedom. He was missed when he left to be academic vice-rector and, subsequently, rector of PUC-Rio, a position he held for fifteen years. There he became known nationally and internationally, standing out in the academic sphere.
If they were to ask me, therefore, what is the best word to define this man who for fifteen years drove PUC-Rio to the place it occupies today in the country’s academic life, at first I would remain undecided. So many words would come to mind… I lived and worked with him for almost three decades as a professor in the theology department, as director of the Loyola Center for Faith and Culture, as dean and vice-dean. During those times I had the good fortune to discover various facets of his rich personality. It is not so easy to determine which one stands out the most.
The first thing that strikes you when dealing with this purebred Iberian, a lover of his native Spain and all its good offerings, including fine wines, is undoubtedly **his brilliant intelligence**. Conversing with Father Hortal was a pleasure and a continuous learning experience. Endowed with a clear mind, an acute and precise perception, and a very broad culture, he felt comfortable in both Canon Law and Theology, his academic specialties, as well as in social, political, economic, cultural, and literary topics.
Among the languages he mastered were Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, through which he moved with as much ease as if he were strolling through the campus of the university he directed for so many years. He carried his multiple dictionaries in the memory of his mobile phone. The same happened with the Code of Canon Law. I never saw him hesitate before a question and not have a precise and direct answer. Even when it came to numbers. Knowledgeable of the statistics and indices of the country, the state, and the university, he conversed with ease with mathematicians and engineers, putting forward corrections and adjustments to what the specialists presented to him.
If the topic was literature, general or Brazilian history, classical or popular music, P. Hortal also had something to say and present. Voracious reader, he was an appreciator of beauty and erudition and of all authentic artistic and literary expressions. Once I saw him become deeply moved while listening to the lamented professor and academic Cleonice Berardinelli comment on a beautiful sermon by Father Antonio Vieira. Open to the new, endowed with an immense good taste, in him the aesthetic sense was allied with the sense of humor. He was capable of enlivening a meeting with his erudition, speaking as well in colloquial as in academic language.
Man of deep faith, he loved the Church. His fidelity in this sense, however, was combined with an open commitment to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. With the Jewish community, he was one of the most respected and frequent interlocutors. He was a leading figure in the Catholic-Jewish Dialogue Group. I often participated with him in events with Jewish interlocutors, rabbis, and academics. His voice was always heard in the spirit of respect and dialogue.
As he advanced in age and wisdom, he kept a close eye on new technologies. An expert internet user, he always responded to emails and WhatsApp messages with the speed of lightning and gave brilliant presentations with sophisticated PowerPoint presentations personally prepared.
All of this earned him recognition not only from the university where he served as rector until June 30, 2010, but also the respect of the academic community beyond the borders of PUC-Rio, having been chosen three times as educator of the year and received the Honorary Doctorate of the PUC of Paraná. A prominent figure in society as an educator, he accumulated awards and recognition from various instances, which he received with naturalness and smiling modesty.
Despite all this brilliant trajectory, however, it doesn’c even remotely approach the word that best defines him, a word I could only find in the Holy Scriptures, so well known and assimilated by him. Fr. Jesús Hortal Sánchez **was, above all, a just man**. Of the same stock as those whom Scripture points out as examples of conduct for the chosen people. And his training as a jurist undoubtedly further perfected that justice constitutive of his person. During the decades that we worked together, I had him as a superior. As I have indicated previously, I was under his leadership as director of the theology department, academic vice-rector, and finally, as rector. The decision-making was in his hands, often in difficult or delicate situations.
I never saw him think, act, or speak driven by passions or under the fickle wind of disordered emotions. Much less under the impulse of sympathies or antipathies, likes or dislikes.
His firm and sober rectitude made him stand balanced like the stem of a scale, even in the most crucial moments at the head of a complex and large institution such as the university. **He inspired confidence in everyone and allowed one to feel that PUC-Rio was navigating safe and calmly**, flying its flag high.
Today I celebrate your Easter and, despite the nostalgia, I am happy to see you enter the fullness of the light of the Risen One. Your death has provoked a series of tributes that come from all parts. Here is mine. And I feel compelled to repeat what I told him in my farewell speech as dean of the Center for Theology and Human Sciences (CTCH), which coincided with the end of his rectorship. There I said that I felt that the phrase from the psalm applied to him: The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom and his tongue expresses justice. (Ps 37:30) And also, and no less, the phrase of Jesus of Nazareth in the fourth gospel, seeing the young Israelite Nathanael under the fig tree: Here is a man in whom there is no falsehood (Jn 1:47). I reaffirm all of this today.
And I can only express my deep gratitude for all these years of coexistence and learning.
I am sure that the Lord receives him, faithful servant, with joy in his life that has no end. May his luminous legacy continue to inspire us today and always.
**María Clara Lucchetti Bingemer**
**Jornal do Brasil**
Maria Clara Bingemer was for 43 years a professor of the theology department at PUC-Rio. She is the author of several books in various languages, the most recent being *A sede de Deus nos desertos contemporâneos* (*The Thirst of God in Contemporary Deserts*). *Teopoetic Approaches*, SP, Editora Recriar, 2025. Her personal website can be found at http://agape.usuarios.rdc.puc-rio.br/quemsou.htm
English version translated with AI