There is surprise and joy at the choice of a new Pope among members of the historic local Jesuit community, centred at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph.
“I’m genuinely surprised that a Jesuit was elected!” said Father Eric Jensen, spiritual director at the centre’s Loyola House.
“I don’t think there have been many Popes chosen who were members of a religious order or community, and, until now, never a Jesuit,” he said about the selection last week of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who has taken the name of Pope Francis I.
“I know nothing about the man, except what I’ve read in the press, which is mostly positive: the fact that he has chosen to live in a simple apartment rather than a palatial house, and to use public transit rather than be chauffeured in a limousine – this speaks volumes about the kind of person he is,” Jensen said in an email sent in response to a Tribune query.
“He seems to be someone from a simple immigrant family, someone who is aware of the struggles of the poor and who has reached out to them as a pastor – this is what really gives me joy.”
Jensen was picked by the Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph to field any media enquiries about reaction to the choice of Pope from the local Society of Jesuits, which traces its roots in Guelph back to 1852.
He’s not an official spokesman for the Jesuits, he said in the email, but he was willing to give his personal response to the choice of a new Pope.
“There are huge pressures on priests, and especially on bishops, to conform to old clerical models and lifestyles,” he said.
“That this man would have the courage and daring to break out of the old patterns is what gives me hope for the future of the Church.
“The pressures on him as Bishop of Rome will certainly be enormous,” Jensen said.
“All sorts of changes are needed, and he will have to persuade people to work with him in bringing about changes that have been resisted for so long – I’m thinking in particular of things like collegiality: the way the Pope should work with the other bishops of the world, something based on ancient practice and approved by the Second Vatican Council, but never implemented.
“The fact that he is a Jesuit is interesting, but Jesuits, despite the myths, are not all cast in the same mold and do not all march in lockstep,” he said.
“The one thing that Jesuits all share is a spirituality based on that of St. Ignatius of Loyola, which helps us find God in all things and in every situation. Labels like liberal or conservative are not very helpful. That someone should be open and attentive, wise and discerning, this is what really matters.
“What is most significant for the future of the Church is that this is a person from Latin America,” Jensen said.
The church’s shift in focus from Europe to the southern hemisphere “is what is being recognized in the election of a Latin American Pope – this is what it’s really all about,” he said.