Religion: Soldier of Jesus

It was time to elect a new “Black Pope.” Since 1942, when Polish Father Vladimir Ledochowski died, the Society of Jesus had been without a General. By last week, almost all the 200 electors had assembled in Rome for the Society’s 29th General Congregation.

The election followed a centuries-old formula. For four days electors were confined to the Society’s headquarters at the Borgo Santo Spirito. When election day came, they attended a 5:30 Mass of the Holy Ghost, then, wearing their plain black robes, filed into the Hall of Elections. After an exhortation on the qualities most needed in the new General, electors knelt for the prescribed hour of prayer and meditation. The hour past, each elector read the oath: “I swear that my vote has been guided only by the interest of the Church and the Society of Jesus,” dropped his ballot in the box.

The leader chosen, a messenger sped to bring the news to the Pope. Each elector kissed the hand of the new General in sign of obedience, and the doors were flung wide to reveal to outsiders the new leader: Father John Baptist Janssens of Belgium, a Jesuit since 1907; tall, thin, pale, ascetic, 56-year-old ex-professor of canon law at Louvain University, later head of the Jesuit province of Northern Belgium.

The present advantages of a small-country General were obvious. In an age of bloc diplomacy, he would be more able to work with all nations. He would be accepted more readily in former Axis countries. He might work better with Russia, should the Kremlin ever admit Roman Catholic missionaries. Despite the Russian hostility to Rome, Jesuits are training and planning for the day when they can preach behind the iron curtain.