On Monday 7th January 2008, the 35th “General Congregation” of the Society of Jesus, the famous religious order founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and some followers, met to elect its 29th “General Superior”, after the demission of P-H Kolvenbach for cause of old age. The 225 representatives of the world's Jesuits also defined and confirmed the general orientations of the Society concerning their mission in the world. The issue of this “mission is the world”, regarding political actions, is more than complex it could seem at first for the Society. Christianity, for one thing, has always had an ambiguous relationship to the idea of political power, Jesus having said “My kingdom is not of this world”, and the even clearer “Give back to Cesar what belongs to Cesar, and to God what belongs to God”. The first orientation of Christianity thus is apolitical, and rather takes the shape of a retreat from the political, “mundane” world. However, since Constantine established Christianity as his only State religion, this religion has been linked to the symbols of power in the Western World – the most striking examples being the monarchy of divine right that was established in most European countries until the 17th century, and the establishment of the States of the Church in the Vatican.
[...] Not only saving souls, for once, but saving the Western European civilization French Resistance This implication in the Resistance is particularly strong in France, where the generation” we already spoke of shows an important mobilization against Nazism and Pétain's regime, regardless of the position of the French Catholic Church who rather strongly favoured Pétain's policies. At the initiative of Pierre Chaillet, sj, and with the support of Gaston Fessard, François Varillon and Henri de Lubac, a clandestine revue is created, Les Cahiers du Témoignage Chrétien, whose aim is to show the superiority of Christian values on Nazism and on any collaboration to Nazism. [...]
[...] This rather active participation in the Resistance opened the way to new relations between the Jesuits and the modern world: they abandon their project of converting the modern world, and decide to accompany its evolutions, especially on the issues of social justice, both in Europe and outside. A. The Jesuits in the Resistance This is why the implication of Jesuits in Resistance movements during World War 2 must be considered differently than the mere rejection of fascist and Nazi ideologies. [...]
[...] This 4th Decree and Arrupe's position are quite relevant of the new tendency of the Society: far from retreating behind mainly spiritual issues, like in the beginning of the century, the Jesuits chose to intervene quite strongly in the world, considering that the message of Christ also carries political significations, and that their non- intervention on such issues as poverty and injustice would tend to classify them on the side of the wealthy or worse the exploitors. Indeed, the Jesuits have often been accused and the temptation is important of being mainly present among the elites, especially in their schools, and of abandoning the less powerful and rich classes of society The Pellecer affair: accusations and responses on liberation theology On the 30th September 1981, young Guatemalan Jesuit Luis Pellecer gives a press conference doing his auto-critique after several months of imprisoning. [...]
[...] However, the problems created by these opposed positions leads the Church in general, and the Jesuits in particular, to adapt their positions to the modern world in order to re-Christianize society. B. Attempts to re-conquer the society to Christianity The initiative of a new “Church policy” towards France belongs to Pope Leo XIII, elected in 1878. Having understood that the monarchic system cannot win in France, he encourages the rally of the French Catholics to the Republic, and launches the Church's first social doctrine which will have a major impact on the history of the Society in the 20th century. [...]
[...] As for the Society of Jesus itself, the relationship to politics remains very ambiguous: Ignatius himself was no politician, and had intended to create an apostolic order to resist to the spread of the Reformation; however, the Jesuit spirituality, which leaves a central place to action and the historical evolution of the Society both resulted in a strong presence of the Jesuits in the public sphere. Generally speaking, this political implication can lead us to consider that the Jesuits are a good, but often slightly more excessive, image of the political positioning of the Catholic Church. [...]
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