Writing in 1987, Jorge Mario Bergoglio described letters written by Jesuits during the Society’s suppression as ‘a marvel of criteria of discernment’ – how have these criteria been applied in the pope’s recent words and actions?Īn obscure five-page prologue from Pope Francis’ past, published this month by the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica, reveals something of the ‘spiritual strategy’ he is currently pursuing with Chile’s troubled Church, as well as sharing vital discernment wisdom culled from the dark days of the suppression of the Society of Jesus that could be helpful for modern-day Catholics beleaguered by social change.įrancis first drew attention to his text – a 2,000-word preface to Las Cartas de la Tribulación, an Argentine translation into Spanish of eight letters by Jesuit superiors general from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries – when he quoted from it in a powerful address in Santiago’s cathedral on 16 January. The pope’s apology and his insistence on the need for renewal in the Church are informed by texts that he has been drawing on for thirty years, says Austen Ivereigh. Last month, Pope Francis wrote to the bishops of Chile to say sorry for his initial response to the clerical abuse crisis in the country.
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