Catholic World News News Feature

Pope reminds Jesuits of duty to obedience April 24, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI reminded Jesuits of their vow of loyalty to the Roman Pontiff, and urged them to meet "the Church's most urgent current needs" in the intellectual world, during an address to leaders of the Society of Jesus on April 22.

Pope Benedict spoke after a Mass celebrated in St. Peter's basilica by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis Xavier. About 4,000 Jesuits were in attendance, led by Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, who has led the Society of Jesus since 1983.

The greatest needs of the Church, the Holy Father said, include responses to a culture that is "deeply marked by scientism, positivism, and materialism." The Jesuits, he said, should lead in the restoration of "a culture inspired by Gospel principles."

Recalling the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, Pope Benedict emphasized that he was "a man of deep prayer, the center and summit of whose life was the daily celebration of the Eucharist." That "precious spiritual heritage" should not be neglected by today's Jesuits, he said.

The Pope concluded his remarks by reminding his listeners that St. Ignatius and his followers had made solemn vows in 1541 on the same day-- April 22-- before an image of the Virgin Mary. He asked the Virgin to watch over the Society of Jesus today.

In their early years the Jesuits actively primarily in missionary work, but later the order turned to teaching as well, and for generations the Jesuits were regarded as the intellectual elite of the Catholic clergy. Today there are 19,850 Jesuits in the world, but the ranks of the order are thinning because of troubles with recruitment of young candidates. In addition to the three vows ordinarily taken by all religious (poverty, chastity, and obedience), all members of the Society of Jesus take a fourth vow of obedience to the Pope.