He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life," Fr. We recognize God as good, fully good. Symbols are part of reality, and the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality," he added.
Sosa's remarks came after he participated in a panel discussion at a Catholic gathering in Rimini, Italy, organized by the Communion and Liberation ecclesial movement. The Catechism of the Catholic teaches that "Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: 'The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing. In , Catholic monarchs jealous of the Jesuits' influence and independence pressured Pope Clement XIV to suppress the order, declaring the society "perpetually broken up and dissolved.
In the s, the Jesuits collectively opted for a decisive shift to emphasizing working on behalf of the poor and for social justice. In the developing world, that put Jesuits on the front lines of popular movements for the poor, such as liberation theology, and led to martyrdom at times; in El Salvador, six Jesuits, along with their housekeeper and her daughter, were brutally executed by a Salvadoran military unit in At the same time, the Vatican under Pope John Paul II -- aided by his doctrinal czar, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- investigated, sanctioned and sometimes silenced Jesuit theologians who were considered too eager to marry the Gospel to suspect social movements.
Jesuits have also fallen victim to what some call the "white martyrdom" at the hands of the pope. As recently as , Reese was forced out as editor of the Jesuits' America magazine when his longtime foe, Ratzinger, was elected Pope Benedict XVI and ordered the society to fire him.
As a Jesuit in Argentina, ordained in , Bergoglio also found himself in the midst of all this tumult. He had initially joined the Jesuits in the s because he was "attracted to its position on, to put it in military terms, the front lines of the church. The Argentine "Dirty Wars" erupted during the s, and the violence that overtook the country also threatened many priests -- especially Jesuits -- even as the regime co-opted much of the hierarchy.
Bergoglio was made superior of the Argentine Jesuits at the age of 36, thrown into a situation of internal and external chaos that would have tried even the most seasoned leaders. I had to deal with difficult situations, and I made my decisions abruptly and by myself," Francis said last year, acknowledging that his "authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative.
Bergoglio fully embraced the Jesuits' radical turn to championing the poor, though he was seen as an enemy of liberation theology, and many Jesuits, while others in the order were devoted to him. He turned away from devotional traditionalism but was viewed by others as still far too orthodox. Critics labeled him a collaborator with the Argentine military junta even though biographies show he worked carefully and clandestinely to save many lives.
None of that ended the intrigue against Bergoglio within the Jesuits, and in the early s, he was effectively exiled from Buenos Aires to an outlying city, "a time of great interior crisis," as he's put it. In classic Jesuit tradition, however, Bergoglio complied with the society's demands and sought to find God's will in it all. Paradoxically, his virtual estrangement from the Jesuits encouraged Cardinal Antonio Quarracino of Buenos Aires to appoint Bergoglio as an assistant bishop in In , Bergoglio succeeded Quarracino as archbishop.
His rise in the hierarchy, however, only seemed to cement suspicions about him among his foes among the Jesuits. During his regular visits to Rome, Bergoglio never stayed at the Jesuit headquarters but rather at a clerical guest house with other prelates. In the conclave that elected Benedict XVI, Bergoglio was the runner-up, a near-miss that left many Jesuits breathing a sigh of relief.
So when Bergoglio was chosen as pope in March , one could almost hear the collective gasp in Jesuit communities around the world. Humberto Miguel Yanez, an Argentine Jesuit like Francis, who heads the moral theology department at the Gregorian University in Rome, a Jesuit school sometimes called "the pope's Harvard.
And if he had not become a bishop, he would not have become a cardinal and, ultimately, pope, since the College of Cardinals by tradition chooses each successor to St. To kick off this year of prayer and deepening conversion in our own lives, America spoke with Arturo Sosa, S. Do you report to him or does he report to you? Arturo Sosa, S. Every Jesuit reports to the pope. When a Jesuit becomes a bishop, his obedience [is no longer] to the superiors of the Society.
No, the bishop depends on the pope, and the pope depends on himself, on the Spirit. Ignatius Loyola used to call the pope the vicar of Christ on Earth. So I am accountable to him. Colleen Dulle : What is it like to meet with the pope? It is a very fraternal and respectful relationship. Pope Francis knows very well the Society of Jesus. And knows how just we can help him, and he knows what to ask the Society and which persons can be missioned for his projects.
And in a very fraternal way, we know each other from many, many years ago. So it is a relationship that has been growing differently in different moments of my life. Who is the superior general? How would you describe your job? I would describe it as the neck of a body. You know that Ignatius and St. Paul love to use the image of the body for the church and for the Society of Jesus.
And I feel I am the neck of a body, and the head is Jesus Christ. The superior general is the one who tries to assure the connection between the body and its head.
I feel I am the neck of a body, and the head is Jesus Christ. CD: We are entering the Ignatian Year, which is a celebration of the th anniversary of the cannonball injury that St.
Ignatius experienced while he was defending Pamplona. It was a pivotal moment in his life. He was on bedrest. He began his conversion process then. The Apostolic Preferences energize the Bishop of Inongo. Act Now. Discernment and Leadership: A Jesuit contribution to the Church.
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