Before long, adaptable and learned Jesuits were in demand as teachers and statesmen, courtiers and confessors. Perhaps they went further than Loyola had intended. Success in many fields​—especially politics—​brought them money and power, but it also sowed the seeds of catastrophe.

In 1773, Pope Clement XIV, bowing to pressure from France, Portugal, and Spain, disbanded the Jesuit order “for all eternity.” The motive? To “establish a real and enduring peace within the Church.” Because of their political influence, the Jesuits had become a liability. Although this papal decision was rescinded 41 years later, the Jesuits never again attained their former preeminence.

Turning Back the Protestant Tide

Education and the confessional were the Jesuits’ principal weapons to combat the growing power of Protestantism. Almost by accident, they discovered that their newly created quality schools could instill Catholicism in kings and nobles much more effectively than any preaching campaign. And in the 16th century, it was the nobility who had the power to determine the religion of their domain.c

Loyola himself noted that “the good that the Order can do to promote the Roman cause depends less upon preaching than teaching in our colleges.” The elitist Jesuit schools educated and indoctrinated many of the future European rulers who, once they came to power, were inclined to suppress the Protestants. This initial success was reinforced by a novel approach to confession. Historian Paul Johnson explains: “In the confessional, the Jesuits and their powerful penitents had a lawyer-​client relationship.” Not surprisingly the new approach was more popular. Before long, many European monarchs had their private Jesuit confessors, who excelled at being all things to all the influential men they advised.

Jesuit confessors were indulgent in matters of morality but implacable when dealing with “heretics.” A Jesuit confessor to French king Louis XV recommended that “in the interest of decency,” the king install a hidden staircase between his bedroom and that of his mistress. On the other hand, his great-​grandfather, Louis XIV, was persuaded by his Jesuit confessor to revoke the Edict of Nantes (a law that allowed French Protestants, or Huguenots, limited freedom of worship). This step unleashed a wave of terror against the Huguenots, many of whom were massacred.

Jesuit Adaptability

In the Orient, following their custom in Europe, the Jesuits aimed to convert the rulers and hence their subjects. In the pursuit of this goal, they stretched to the limit Loyola’s command to be all things to all men. Roberto de Nobili, a Jesuit missionary in India during the 17th century, lived like a high-​caste Brahman in order to preach to the ruling class. To avoid offending fellow Brahmans, he offered the Eucharist, or the consecrated wafer of the Mass, to the low-​caste Untouchables by means of a stick.

Matteo Ricci became an influential member of the Chinese court, mainly because of his gifts as a mathematician and astronomer. He kept his religious beliefs to himself. His Jesuit successor at the Ming court, Johann Adam Schall von Bell even set up a cannon foundry and trained Chinese troops to man the guns (which were named after Catholic “saints”). To win converts, the Jesuits allowed Chinese Catholics to continue practicing ancestor worship, a controversial decision that was eventually rejected by the pope. Despite such accommodation, both in India and in China, the rulers remained unconvinced.

In South America a colonial approach was tried. In uncolonized areas of the interior, Jesuits set up autonomous settlements in which Guarani Indians were more or less ruled by Jesuit missionaries. In return they were taught agriculture, music, and religion. These settlements, which at their height harbored 100,000 natives, finally disintegrated when they came into conflict with Portuguese and Spanish commercial interests. Although the Jesuits trained an army of 30,000 Indians, which fought at least one pitched battle against the Portuguese, in 1766 the settlements were destroyed and the Jesuits were deported.

Over the centuries many individual Jesuits made heroic sacrifices to spread the Catholic message far and wide. Some were martyred in a terrible way for their pains, especially in Japan, where they had some success before the shogun banned their activity.d

Although they had zeal and a spirit of sacrifice, the Jesuit efforts to convert the world were thwarted mainly because of their own scheming methods.

A Political Gospel

Despite problems in the past, 20th-​century Jesuits seem loath to leave politics to the politicians. Nevertheless, one about-​face has been noticeable. After centuries of supporting conservative, right-​wing governments, today’s Jesuit is much more likely to back a revolutionary cause, especially if he lives in a developing country. Nicaragua is a case in point.

When the Sandinistas came to power in Nicaragua, they counted on the support of Fernando Cardenal and Álvaro Argüello, two prominent Jesuit priests who accepted posts in the government. Argüello defended his political post, claiming that “if there is anyone in Nicaragua who does not want to participate in the revolution, he is certainly not a Christian. In order to be a Christian today, it is also necessary to be a revolutionary.” Understandably, such a political gospel offends many sincere people.

Back in the 1930’s, Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo, a famous Spanish philosopher, criticized the Jesuits’ intervention in politics as alien to the teachings of Jesus. He wrote: “The Jesuits . . . come along with this old story about the social kingdom of Jesus Christ, and with that political ideology, they want to deal with political, economic and social problems. . . . Christ has nothing to do with socialism nor with private property. . . . He said his kingdom was not of this world.”

[Picture on page 13]

Because of their reputation for political intrigue, the Jesuits were expelled from Spain in 1767