The new leader of the Jesuits met Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI and told him the religious order would study the pontiff's invitation to confirm their "total adhesion to Catholic teaching," said the Associated Press.What? They have to study this? If not, what church do they belong to?
The Jesuits, says the AP, have had a tense relationship with the Vatican on issues of doctrine and obedience. You think?
According to the Jesuit's web site, The Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, a Spanish missionary and theologian with extensive Asian experience who was elected as superior general Jan. 19, had a warm and friendly conversation with the pontiff.
I wonder how Pope Benedict would characterize the meeting?
Shortly before Nicolas' predecessor, Dutch priest Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, handed in his resignation for reasons of age, he received a letter from Benedict in which the pope said it could be "extremely useful" if the Jesuits reaffirm total adhesion to Catholic doctrine.
Yes. The Pope would like to know if Jesuits are still Catholic. Seems reasonable, right?
The pope wrote Kolvenbach that he was particularly concerned about those neuralgic points which today are strongly attacked by secular culture, according to the text released by the Jesuits.
Neuralgic? I looked it up. It seems to mean painful.
The pope cited aspects of the theology of liberation, and various points of sexual morality, especially ... the indissolubility of marriage and the pastoral care of homosexual persons, the letter said.
The Jesuits said Benedict was pleased to hear from Nicolas that Jesuits had formed a committee to study his letter to Kolvenbach. Yeah right! I'm sure he was pleased.
The Vatican announced that Benedict and Nicolas had met in a private audience but gave no details of their talks.
I can't wait for the answer to the Jesuit's "study." How will they study it anyway? Go through the Catechism line by line with a "redact" black marker? Yes to this. No to that. Isn't that the way new religions are formed?
Really! Thanks for posting Archibold's assessment. Sometimes the obvious is staring us in the face.
Personally, I saw this as an out-and-out insult to the Pope. I have had a bad feeling about Nicolas, who I think is an extremely dangerous man. I read all I could on him on the Spanish blogs - while he hasn't lived in Spain for some time, the Spanish know more about him than people elsewhere do. He's known for staying below the radar, but he's an outright syncretist who supports all of the things that Arrupe supported. He's just cannier about doing it. Years ago, he was actually considered by the "progressive" Jebbies to be the one who would be the best successor to Arrupe because he shared all his ideas, but it was for that very reason that he wasn't elected. This time, however, a conscious effort was made by his "party" among the Jesuits to keep his name out of sight so that Rome wouldn't have a chance to oppose him in advance. And it appears that his election actually did blindside Rome.
I think he's essentially going to try to set himself up as the rival to the Pope and the Pope's vision for the Church. But he's going to do it the way he did this: subtle but at the same time insulting and arrogant (I'm sure the Pope was quite taken aback when Nicolas informed him that he would "study" the Pope's orders), although still doing it in such a way that he can't be reprimanded. I think BXVI is really going to need our prayers now.
Rev. Nicolae, already establishing himself as the Klovenhoof.