Jorge Mario Bergoglio may have chosen to name himself Francis I after
the patron saint of Italy, St. Francis of Assisi, but His Holiness is
not a Franciscan.
He is a Jesuit, the first member of the Society of
Jesus to be elected pope.
He is also the first member of a religious
order to become pope since 1831, when the conclave elected Gregory XVI, a
Camaldolese Benedictine monk.
Gregory, also the last pope who was not a bishop before his election,
was a staunch conservative who reigned until 1846. Among the 34 popes
who were members of a religious order, the Benedictines dominate with
17.
Franciscans have had four, but the Jesuits never have had one of
their own as pope despite a long history – the order was founded in 1540
by Spaniard Ignatius of Loyola – and a prominent role in the church.
The order is “noted for its educational, missionary and charitable
works, once regarded by many as the principal agent of the
Counter-Reformation and later a leading force in modernizing the
church,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Encyclopedia also
picks up on the controversy regarding the Jesuits, which “have always
been a controversial group regarded by some as a society to be feared
and condemned and by others as the most laudable and esteemed religious
order in the Catholic Church.”
It’s also the largest single order in the Catholic church, with more
than 19,000 members by its own count, and a presence on every continent –
including Antarctica,
where Jesuits have been chaplains and, in keeping with their order’s
reputation as the church’s intellectual powerhouse, even scientists.
So why did the Jesuits, with their unparalleled reach, never get to
the highest office in an institution they have such a huge part in?
For starters, they have a reputation. They may vow blind, total
obedience to the pope and their own superiors, “perinde ac cadaver,”
like a corpse, in St. Ignatius’ Latin phrase, which reflected the
military background of the order’s founder. But in practice they are
anything but dumb bodies.
Father Thomas Reese, a Jesuit and former editor in chief of the
order's weekly magazine America, told CNN in 2005 that the word
"Jesuit" had become synonymous through the centuries with scheming, and
that their very reputation as the most free-thinking of Catholics had
made them suspect in the eyes of the church hierarchy.
Their fall from grace was at its lowest in 1773, when Pope Clement
XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus, as it is formally known, and had
their leader (called a “General,” another throwback to Loyola’s military
past) thrown in jail. The Society would not come back until 1814,
thanks to Pius VII, who restored it and called its members “skilled
rowers for the storm-tossed barque of Peter.”
Pius also encouraged the
reopening of the schools and colleges the Jesuits were famous for.
But their fame as wily, politically shrewd operators did not die with
the ban. So much so that it’s common even today for Italian Catholics
to refer to the Jesuit General as “il papa nero,” the black pope.
It’s not known yet what affectionate nickname they will call His
Holiness Francis I (John XXIII was, for example, “il papa buono,” the
good pope, in reference to his warm character.) But they might settle on
something that highlights what makes him different, and vastly so, from
the 265 men who came before him: Francis I is “il papa gesuita.”