Aim higher, reach further.

Jesuits Had Past Struggles With Popes

Jorge Mario Bergoglio's election as Pope Francis brings new attention to his religious order, the powerful and controversial Society of Jesus, better know as the Jesuits.

Dr. Terrence Tilley of Fordham University discusses the issues that Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio and the Catholic Church face as he becomes Pope Francis. Photo: Getty Images.

Bergoglio: A Man for the Church

Review key events in his life and career.

If one thing defines the Jesuits, it is their reputation for rigorous intellectual discussion and their lack of dogmatism. "They are very innovative and tied to reality," says Elio Masferrer, an anthropologist and expert on religion at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

An Argentine Pope

When Pope Francis was 'Father Jorge'

The Jesuits are the largest single order in the Catholic Church. Throughout their history, they have wielded power as advisors to monarch and prince alike. They have also produced notable scientists, educators, and missionaries and have also been at the forefront of social movements.

They were founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola, a wounded Basque soldier who had a vision in 1521 as he was recuperating after his leg was shattered by a French cannonball. The order was organized on military lines of soldier-priests uniquely at the Pope's orders. Throughout their history, the Jesuits have enjoyed a reputation for their intellectual acuity and have played a leading role in Catholic education. Today, they run more than 100 colleges around the world.

The Jesuits also have a reputation for bold missionary activities. They evangelized much of Asia in the 16th century, acting as emissaries to the Emperor of China, among other kingdoms.

In that sense, Francis, the name taken by Cardinal Bergoglio, is symbolic. It could refer either to Saint Francis of Assisi or the well-known Jesuit, Saint Francis Xavier, both missionaries, said Terrence Tilley, chair of the Department of Theology at Fordham University in New York.

But Mr. Tilley said the new pope is not known for radical theology. "Expect no significant changes in attitude and no change in doctrine," he said.

Through their almost five hundred years of history, the Jesuits have at times had difficult relations with the papacy, which saw them as rivals.

The Society of Jesus was even dissolved by the Papacy in 1773. But the Jesuits managed to survive in Russia and Prussia, whose rulers refused to obey the papal bull which was eventually rescinded in 1814.

The Changing Church


More recently, the Jesuits had a particularly strained relationship with the late Pope John Paul II during the turbulent decades when some in the Church took a leftward turn and Latin America was a front in the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

In some parts of the region, some Jesuits took up arms on the side of leftist guerrillas. In places like El Salvador, wracked by bloody civil war, they were seen by the local establishment as the enemy. For instance, six Jesuits, including the rector of the Catholic University of El Salvador, and two house maids were gunned down by Salvadoran troops in one of the worst atrocities of the Salvadoran civil war in 1989.

Earlier in Mexico, Jesuits were expelled from the conservative business capital of Monterrey by the local bishop who thought they were too close to leftist students. In Mexico at the time, the Jesuits who had traditionally educated the sons of Latin America's elite, closed down their leading school in the capital to devote their energies to teaching the poor.

The Jesuits derive their tough intellectual standards from the experience of their founder. Convalescing from his wound, Saint Ignatius read the only thing available to him, religious books, and wrote down his experiences in a famous spiritual treatise known as the Spiritual Exercises.

Saint Ignatius studied at the University of Paris. It was there, with a half-dozen friends, he founded the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits dedicated themselves to the service of the Pope and were officially recognized by Pope Paul III in 1540.

Write to Jose de Cordoba at

Show More Archives

Popular on WSJ

Editors’ Picks