Prayer: the Spiritual Exercises

Ignatius of Loyola (Saint Ignatius), born October 24, 1491, died July 31, 1556, was a Spanish Basque Roman Catholic priest who founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus (AKA Jesuits) and became its first Superior General

Pope Francis is a Jesuit. He joined them in 1958 at age 22, was ordained a priest in 1969, was Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina for 1973-1079, became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, a cardinal in 2001 (by Pope John Paul II). He was elected Pope in 2013 after the resignation of Benedict XVI

I joined the Jesuits in 1960 at the age of 18, actually a few months after Francis took his vows as a Jesuit. While I completed most of two years of novitiate, I did not take vows. At least three things that I learned as a novice seem to characterize Pope Francis

1. Always presume permission. Ignatius loved rules as guides to behavior, but he was not obsessed with their observance. Since novices often are, we will told "always presume permission." We were told we would often be paced in a position where we would not have the opportunity to consult our superior. If it gives greater glory to God, and helps in the salvation of person, we should go outside the guidelines and presume our superior would agree.

2. Give others a plus sign. Assume their best intentions. Several times Ignatius was investigated for heresy because of his innovations. In the Spiritual Exercises, the guide is always to presume the person who make the exercise is not a heretic even if he expresses himself in ways that sound heretical. The guide is always to reformulate the retreatants ideas to better accord with Catholic beliefs.

In the novitiate we were told to always assume our fellow Jesuits had permission for doing whatever they were doing even if it looked like they were breaking a rule. This often resulted in a lot of humor. Some most of the time we observed silence, or if speaking had to speak in Latin if we came across a fellow novice doing something that was out of line we would give him the plus sign, i.e. make the sing of the Cross in his direction. But that allowed for a lot of nuance. Sometimes it was a big enthusiastic plus sign as if saying "go to it" At other times it was a small sign of the cross like a priest makes in the confessional, as if to say "OK brother, but maybe you should mention this in confession."

3. We go in their door so that they might come out our door.  The Jesuits are a missionary order; often they are surrounded be people who are of another religion or no religion at att. The fundamental strategy is to accept where the other person is, understand their background and beliefs, find common ground, and begin a discussion that will hopefully lead them to understand and perhaps accept our beliefs.

Pope Francis seems to model these three things; I think they are why many people assume he is a liberal. He is just being a Jesuit. 

  

Ignatius, Prayer and the Spiritual Exercises