Jesuit spokesman Father Jose Maria de Vera insists the Church’s largest religious order is dedicated to fidelity to Pope Benedict XVI and to the magisterium of the Church.

The Pope called the Jesuits to greater fidelity when he addressed the 225 delegates who have been participating since early January in the Society of Jesus’ 35th general congregation in Rome. Father de Vera spoke Feb. 25 with Register correspondent Edward Pentin about the Pope’s comments, and the delegates’ response to them.

The Holy Father had words of encouragement, as well as some frank words of caution, when he met members of the general congregation on Feb.21. How were his words received by the Jesuits?

They were very well-received, indeed. For Jesuits, to show this kind of satisfaction and excitement is unusual, but I have to say, when we returned for the afternoon session everybody was so happy.

So much so that at one point, one of them said in a humorous way: “Remember, St. Ignatius told us not to make any decision when we are in a moment of consolation or, on the contrary, in desolation. We are today in a moment of great consolation, so let’s be careful not to make decisions which later we could regret.”

So at that point, it was a very happy situation. The Pope was very gracious. He was smiling and very welcoming. If you read what he had to say, and it has been published, it is very, very positive indeed.

But the Pope is also very frank in his criticisms. He said the Jesuits must “regain a fuller understanding of your distinctive ‘fourth vow’ of obedience to the Successor of Peter.”

That’s exactly our line. We have been reflecting upon that because obedience to the Pope, to the Holy Father, is a very important aspect of Ignatian spirituality.

The [Jesuit] constitution says clearly that we are here to work for the Kingdom of God, to serve only the Lord and his representative in the world, so we are under the Roman Pontiff as St. Ignatius said. It’s very important we make a vow, so it’s natural the Pope mentions this link, this relationship the Society of Jesus had with the Pope.

There have been a lot of reports giving different interpretations in the newspapers, and occasionally one or two have been commenting on that. But it’s a pattern. The Pope rebukes the Jesuits and everyone looks at the difficulties we have, difficulties that we had from the beginning, from the beginning of the Society of Jesus.

There was a Pope who wanted to impose on us the use of the breviary, the Psalms, like monks do. And St. Ignatius had to accept that, but the Pope died very soon afterwards, and very soon after [his death] it was changed. So Ignatius experienced difficulties with one of the popes of his time.

The Pope specifically said that Jesuits must return in full fidelity to your original charism and seek harmony with the magisterium. What changes will the order make to carry out his call?

We don’t have to change, so to say, the principle.

The Pope is very proud of the Jesuits. Let me quote him where he uses the words of Paul VI: “Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and exposed fields, in the crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been or is confrontation between the burning exigencies of humanity and the perennial message of the Gospel, there have been and are the Jesuits.” Well, we could not really say about ourselves, these words of Paul VI repeated by BXVI.

Of course, it’s difficult to be in the trenches. When you are in the trenches, in this no-man’s land where we are dealing with non Christians, dealing with agnostics, atheists, which are always the trenches — the front line — that’s the nature of the front line. You don’t know where the limits are.

Occasionally — and we know this — some Jesuits went beyond the limits. What we have to consider is why they did it.

So, in the service in the Church, perhaps we have gone astray. Our previous superior general, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, said precisely because we are working in such a difficult field, we need the decision of the Pope, and the last word should be the word of the Pope.

It seems to me to be misplaced to read [the Pope’s comments] as a rebuke. He was commenting on something we are very not proud of, because we cannot be proud of that, but we are very convinced that this central part of the Society of Jesus, to serve the Lord and the Roman pontiff, is something we don’t do that in a perfect way, naturally, but we try our best.

The Pope is saying: “Remember you have this relationship with me.” That’s natural.

The Pope drew attention to the “confusion of messages” in society on many fundamental issues, implying that failure to adhere to Church teaching adds to that confusion.

Was there a willingness among Jesuits to address this in a concrete way?

You know, for a handful of theologians who are dealing with these matters and could make mistakes, we have, as the Pope said, 18,000 Jesuits working with the poor and refugees — all these areas.

I don’t want to boast about that, but I think we are simply trying to carry out imperfectly our charism, our vocation, and we are doing it.

You should go to Africa and the rest of the world, Latin America, and see how many Jesuits suffered and were killed while being faithful to the Church and the Pope. So I think it would be totally unfair to take these words as just a rebuke.

You should have seen the expression of the Pope, the affection with which he greeted Father Kolvenbach and the new superior general, Father Adolfo Nicolás, and the words he used. You have 225 Jesuits who thought the Pope has gone too far in praising the Society of Jesus. That is something very unusual.

I do not deny the Pope said these words [of criticism] but you have to put into context that there was perhaps excessive praise of the Society of Jesus.

Edward Pentin

writes from Rome