There Is No Doubt about It - Pope Francis Is a Jesuit

Conservative forces in the Vatican appear to be rather unhappy with Pope Francis. A leading Italian journalist with close ties to the Vatican conservative "old guard" is not among those who are singing the praises of the new Pope, Francis Sandro Magister writes for the magazine L'Espresso and is widely respected for his high-level sources within the Holy See. In a recent article, Magister acknowledged Francis' continuing popularity a year after his election, pointing to a Rolling Stone magazine cover story he contemptuously calls a "full-fledged coronation in the temple of pop culture." But he wrote : "It is not easy to enter into the mind of Pope Bergoglio. His words are like the tiles of a mosaic whose design is not immediately apparent. He also makes tough and biting remarks, but never at a moment in which they could generate conflict." He states that Francis repeatedly says "the view of the Church is known, and I am a son of the Church." Magister wrote : "Sometimes he recalls this combatively for those who expect him to change doctrine, as in the least-cited passage of his 'Evangelii Gaudium,' where he has the harshest of words against the 'right' to abortion....But he never proclaims Church teaching out loud at a moment when the dispute over an issue has become heated." For example, Magister suggests that leading Vatican clerics were disturbed that Francis had not spoken out against the euthanasia of children that is permitted by a new law in Belgium. He also cited the lack of any papal support in favor of those in France and other countries who are opposing the "dissolution of the idea of the family made up of father, mother, and children." The Pope has remained silent, Magister says, about a UN report that exalts the current pontiff but "humiliates" the Church, calling on the Vatican to "correct" its teachings on abortion, the family, and sex, according to Magister, who adds : "There is a Jacobin-style attack against the Church, not only in France, that simply wants to exclude it from civil discourse." In contrast to Francis, his predecessor Benedict XVI "preferred conflict in the open field, with the courage of the 'yes' that means 'yes' and the 'no' that means 'no,'" the journalist also writes, citing Benedict's open discussion about the connection between faith and violence in Islam. "This is why the world was so ferocious with him," Magister concludes. "With Francis it is different." ~~~~~ Perhaps in response to his critics, the Pope spoke to the Corriere della Sera Italian newspaper just before the first anniversary of his election as pope. Francis has quickly become enormously popular for his common touch and his orders to other church leaders to take a more humble approach. Francis, however, seemed angry at the adulation he has received : “Depicting the pope as a sort of superman, a sort of star, is offensive to me,...The pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps well and has friends like everyone else; a normal person," he said. Speaking about the myth-making of his persona, he explained : “I like to be among the people, be together with those who suffer, visit parishes.” Francis also scoffed at one story about him : “Like when it is said, for example, that I leave the Vatican at night to go to distribute food to the homeless. It never crossed my mind. Sigmund Freud said, if I am not mistaken, that every idealization is an aggression.” The Pope’s growing popularity has brought four times the number of pilgrims flocking to see him than his predecessor. He was named Time’s Person of the Year and has graced the cover of The Rolling Stone magazine, among hundreds of others around the world. His twitter accounts in nine languages have over 12 million followers and his name is one of the most clicked on the web worldwide. It was recently announced that Pope Francis is also on the list of those who could be chosen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Graffiti depicting the pope as a superhero popped up on a building near the Vatican, but it was quickly scrubbed away. And a new Italian gossip magazine, part of the Berlusconi publishing group, began this week, entitled "My Pope," it is dedicated to news about the pope. In the interview the Pope bolstered his "normal person" image by reminiscing about an old girlfriend : “A girl made my head spin for a week while I was in the seminary,” the pope recalled. The interview asked “And how did it end?" And the pope replied with a big smile, "It was kids stuff. I spoke to my confessor.” In his typically no-nonsense style, he also spoke of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who lives in the Vatican after resigning last year ahead of Francis’ election. “The Pope Emeritus is not a statue in a museum,” Francis said. He said it is an institution we have to get used to and we must become familiar with his role. “Benedict is the first, maybe there will be others.” ~~~~~ And so, having further rufflsd the feathers of his crotics, Pope Francis dropped a bombshell this week, saying the Catholic Church could tolerate some types of civil unions as a way of protecting healthcare and property rights. "Matrimony is between a man and a woman," the pontiff told the Corriere della Sera in an interview published Wednesday. But moves to "regulate diverse situations of cohabitation [are] driven by the need to regulate economic aspects among persons, as for instance to assure medical care.…It is necessary to look at the diverse cases and evaluate them in their variety." It is the first time a Pope has ever indicated even the tiniest acceptance of civil unions. In the interview, the Pope also said that while the church would not alter its stance against artificial birth control, church teachings on the subject should be applied with "much mercy." Francis praised Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which prohibits the use of contraception. According to Francis, Pope Paul's "genius was prophetic. He had the courage to side against the majority, defend moral discipline," Pope Francis said. But he added that Paul had told confessors to interpret his encyclical with "much mercy, attention to concrete situations,...The question is not whether to change the doctrine, but to go deeper and make sure that pastoral care takes account of situations and of what each person is able to do," Francis said. He also said the subjects of birth control and divorce will be discussed at the Vatican in October during a Synod of Bishops. The synod will air the issues "in the light of profound reflection," he said. Francis also defended the church's response to the clerical sex abuse scandals, saying the crimes had left "very profound wounds," but noted that beginning with Pope Benedict, the church has done "perhaps more than anyone" to tackle the problem. "Statistics on the phenomenon of violence against children are shocking, but they also clearly show the great majority of abuses occur in family and neighborhood settings," Francis said. "The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility. No one else has done more. And yet the church is the only one attacked." ~~~~~ Dear readers, Ignatius de Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1534. Ignatius and the early Jesuits recognized that the hierarchical Church was in dire need of reform. Some of their greatest struggles were against corruption, venality, and spiritual lassitude within the Catholic Church. Ignatius's insistence on an extremely high level of academic preparation for ministry was a deliberate response to the relatively poor education of much of the clergy of his time. The Jesuit vow against "ambitioning prelacies" was a deliberate effort to prevent greed for money or power invading Jesuit circles. As a result, in spite of their loyalty, Ignatius and his successors often tangled with the Pope and the Roman Curia. Over the 460 years since its founding, the Society has been called the papal "elite troops" and "God's soldiers" and sometimes been suppressed. So, it should not surprise us that Pope Francis, the first Jesuit to be elected Pope, is a puzzle for the Vatican. As a Jesuit, he has an ironclad attachment to Catholic dogma combined with a fiercely visceral and intellectual determination to prevent the Church from being so conservatively hidebound that it loses contact with the people of God - the poor, the struggling, families - in short, reality. The papacy that Francis is now building will not please everybody all the time. It may anger many who place tradition above people. But, we can be sure that when his work is done, Francis will leave behind him a Church able to take on the 21st century on an equal footing, with a message of God's love and understanding for human beings. Francis counts himself among them. Hang on for a bumpy ride.