Papal Politics and Jesuits

Here is a more complete story about the alleged diary of a cardinal from the Papal Conclave that elected Benedict XVI. I’m loath to continue the conversation since the diary would seem to involve one of two things: an ex-communicable breaking of vows (the cardinals and their entourages swore a solemn oath of secrecy) or a lie (if the whole thing is invented from whole cloth).

The only charitable explanation I can come up with on short notice is that the diary is real but that the cardinal in question did not mean for it to be published. But even writing down a diary of something that can never be released to the public is imprudence at best. And failing to keep it secure seems another sin of omission.

After all that, however, my real interest was in the motivation behind the release of the alleged diary. I’ve already suggested that this was a stealth vote for Bergoglio at the next conclave in somebody's comments.

The suggestion in the story above that it was a disguised attack on the Pope from the direction of some Jesuits is curious. The tension between the order and some of its’ members on the one hand and the Papacy on the other is well-known in Catholic circles, though deplored by many, including yours truly.

The Jesuits have a special fourth vow of loyalty to the Pope which makes the controversies of the last forty years or so all the more painful. We were blessed to have a Jesuit priest preach at our parish many years ago. It was the first and, so far, only time that a priest attempted to defend sexual continence as taught by the Church from the pulpit. It was a carefully reasoned, unblushing account of the folly of modern sexual ethics at a regular Sunday Mass. That, at least, gives me hope for the Jesuit order.

In the meantime, I hope this Pope has a long and prosperous (theologically speaking) life. And I hope, as I did at the last conclave, that we get the Pope we need, not the one we deserve.