Looking for a New General

By Janice Castro.

With John Paul's blessing, the Jesuits meet to elect a leader

Pope John Paul II has traveled tens of thousands of miles to interpret and preach the Gospel to the world's 784 million Roman Catholics. But the short trip he took last Friday morning, to an imposing gray stone building just one block from St. Peter's Square, rivaled many longer journeys in historic significance: for the first time in nearly 450 years, a Pope was paying an official visit to the headquarters of the Society of Jesus, the most powerful and prestigious of Catholic religious orders for men. By celebrating a Mass to open the Jesuits' 33rd general congregation, which is meeting to elect a new superior general, John Paul was also making a conciliatory gesture to a spiritual organization, some of whose 26,000 members have been at odds with him on the proper role of the church, and the Jesuit order, in contemporary society. The Pope underscored these differences in his homily, quoting St. Paul: "I urge you to lead a life worthy of your vocation."

The gathering in Rome last week of 220 delegates from Jesuit provinces around the world may bring to an end two years of uncertainty over the order's future. The underlying question: What kind of political role may Jesuits play while fighting for social justice? The issue was raised, indirectly, in 1981 when the Pope overruled the wishes of the Jesuits' ailing superior general, Father Pedro Arrupe, now 75, who had designated Father Vincent O'Keefe, 63, a former president of Fordham University, as his successor until elections could be held. Instead, John Paul appointed Father Paolo Dezza, now 81, a philosopher and former rector of Rome's Gregorian University, known for his traditional views on theological and social issues. That unprecedented intervention in the affairs of the society drew hundreds of letters of protest from Jesuits. It also made unmistakably clear the Pope's unhappiness with certain trends within the order.

Addressing delegates to the congregation, John Paul last week reminded them of the need "to promote the justice, connected with world peace, which is an aspiration of all peoples. But this action must be exercised in conformity with your vocation as religious and priests, without confusing the tasks proper to priests with those that are proper to lay people." Previously, the Pope had expressed his displeasure with some Jesuits who have openly challenged church teaching on such issues as birth control, the ordination of women and the celibacy of priests.

Under Arrupe, a charismatic Basque priest who was elected in 1965 as the 27th successor to the society's 16th century founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Jesuits often took a direct role in politics. In 1967, for example, Father Arrupe told American Jesuits that they could not remove themselves from the civil rights struggles then being waged. When Jesuit Activist Daniel Berrigan was in prison for his 1968 attempt to destroy U.S. Army draft records, Arrupe visited him, thereby giving tacit approval to Berrigan's civil disobedience. Jesuit Father Robert Drinan served as Congressman for the Fourth District in Massachusetts until the Pope forbade him to seek re-election in 1980.

Jesuits have been most active politically in Central and South America. Two priests of the order hold minor posts in Nicaragua's Sandinista government. Others have been deeply involved in revolutionary movements in El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil and elsewhere. During his 1980 visit to Brazil, the Pope applauded priests for defending the rights of the oppressed but warned them explicitly against seeking or holding political office.

To some extent, the forces that brought some Jesuits into conflict with the Pope are linked to broader changes overtaking the church. Jesuit membership in most Western industrialized nations is falling, and the ranks have been reduced worldwide from 36,000 in 1965 to 26,000 today. But the society is still growing in such Third World countries as India and Zaire. India, for example, now has more Jesuits (3,200) than any other nation except the U.S. (5,500), where the order's primary concern is education (it operates 28 colleges and universities and 47 high schools).

Like the Pope, the Jesuit general serves for life. Arrupe, who suffered a massive stroke in 1981, is the first head of the order to step down. When the delegates closet themselves this week for several days of meditation before casting their votes, their first act will be to accept Arrupe's resignation.

The society's time-honored electoral rules are strict; no delegate may advocate the candidacy of another, let alone propose himself. If there is a leading candidate, it may be Dezza's Pope-appointed deputy, Father Giuseppe Pittau, 54, an Italian scholar with a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard. He is respected by his colleagues and trusted by the Vatican, although he has generally progressive views on social activism. Still, the delegates might select a priest virtually unknown outside the ranks of the order. A once obscure Cardinal from Cracow might understand that choice best. --By Janice Castro. Reported by Walter Galling/Rome

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