Church in the World

Pope insists on Jesuit obedience

Pope Benedict XVI has called on the Jesuits to be more obedient to Rome.

He issued his second appeal for loyalty in just over a month to participants of the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus.

Admitting that he was touching on a "particularly sensitive" issue, he firmly exhorted the Jesuits to be more obedient to "the Successor of Peter" and less ambiguous in following official church teaching - especially on issues of "the Salvation of Christ for all humans", "sexual morality" and "marriage and family life".

"The Church needs you, counts on you and continues to turn to you with confidence," the Pope said on 21 February in a meeting with participants of the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus.

But while he praised the Church's largest men's order for the "extraordinary abundance of apostolic fruit" that it has produced over more than four and a half centuries, the Pope also said he felt the need to repeat some concerns he made in a letter on 10 January to the retired Jesuit General, Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, at the beginning of the General Congregation.

In particular, the Pope expressed hope that Jesuits "engaged in theological research, inter-religious dialogue and dialogue with contemporary culture" would work more "in harmony with the Magisterium" in order to avoid "creating confusion and bewilderment" among Catholics.

"Precisely for this reason I have invited you, and am inviting you today, to further reflect so as to find again the fullest sense of your characteristic 'fourth vow' of obedience to the Successor of Peter," he said.

The Pope said this obedience not only meant "readiness to being sent in mission to faraway lands" but also "to 'love and serve' the Vicar of Christ on earth" so that Jesuits could be the Pope's "precious and irreplaceale collaborators".

Quoting the "formula" of the Society of Jesus, Pope Benedict reminded the Jesuits that they were "founded chiefly 'for the defence and propagation of the faith'". He said that required them to overcome "the frontiers that, due to a mistaken or superficial vision of God and of man, are raised between faith and human knowledge, faith and modern science [and] faith and the fight for justice".

The Pope said that the "preferential task" of the Society of Jesus must therefore be to help people understand that "there is in fact a profound harmony between faith and reason [and] between evangelical spirit, the thirst for justice and action for peace".

The Pope asked the Jesuits to be more committed in combating such things as "subjectivism, relativism, hedonism [and] practical materialism". At the same time he encouraged them "to continue and renew" their "mission among the poor and for the poor", which is "not ideological but is born from the Gospel".

And he urged them continue to give "specific attention to the ministry of the Spiritual Exercises", which he called "a gift that the Spirit of the Lord has made to the entire Church".

Over the last 25 years a number of Jesuits have been investigated, and some disciplined by the Vatican for straying beyond the boundaries set by the Magisterium. The most recent case concerned came in March when the CDF issued a "notification" against the Christological writings of El Salvador-based Fr Jon Sobrino SJ. 

The Jesuit General Congregation will officially be brought to an end on 6 March with a concluding Mass. The assembly began on 7 January.