In the following year, he entered the Jesuit novitiate and after many interruptions in his education due to World War II, he was ordained a priest of the Society of Jesus on 22 August 1949 in Maastricht.

The programs broadcast to the countries behind the Iron Curtain were a precious aid to a freedom in danger of being slowly but inexorably suffocated.

From this work with Vatican Radio sprang a special mission that would always accompany him and that made him known in lands despite their communist domination.

Špidlík's Sunday homilies in Czech have been translated and published in various languages including Polish, Romanian and Italian.

He was received at the Kremlin, led the spiritual exercises of Pope John Paul II and his Curia, and was decorated with the medal of the Masaryk Order, one of the highest honors of the Czech State, by president Václav Havel.