Posted on 03/21/2013 8:03:18 AM PDT by haffast
A statement from Jesuit Superior General Father Adolfo Nicholas, following yesterday’s meeting with his fellow Jesuit, Pope Francis:
“At the personal invitation of the Pope Francis, I went to the Santa Marta House, which had been used for the Cardinals present at the Conclave, at 5:30 p.m. He was at the entrance and received me with the usual Jesuit embrace. We had a few pictures taken, at his request, and at my apologies for not keeping protocol he insisted that I treat him like any other Jesuit at the Tulevel, so I did not have to worry about treatments, “Holiness” or “Holy Father.”
“I offered him all our Jesuit resources because in his new position he is going to need counsel, thinking, persons, etc. He showed gratitude for this and at the invitation to visit us for lunch at the Curia he said he would oblige.
“There was full commonality of feeling on several issues that we discussed and I remained with the conviction that we will work very well together for the service of the Church in the name of the Gospel.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at patheos.com ...
Although, it may be a gesture of humility on the part of Pope Francis to allow himself to be treated as just another Jesuit, treating the pope as just another Jesuit contradicts the reality. Seeing as many of the Jesuits take a vow of complete obedience to the pope, it is hard to imagine that even the Jesuits could treat the pope as simply "any other Jesuit." Many of the Jesuit order have to vow special obedience to the pope....which of course implies that the Jesuits cannot treat the pope as if he were just another Jesuit. Even if the Jesuits tried to treat the pope in such a casual fashion, it would only mask the true nature of the relationship between the pope and average Jesuit.
The picture might just show his jacket, at least I hope so.
He sounds very humble.
Decent quality in a leader.
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