There won't be any white smoke to tell the world he has been elected, but another sort of secret conclave began in Rome on Monday -- to chose the worldwide Jesuit leader who is known as the "the black pope."At Jesuit headquarters a block from the Vatican, 225 delegates from around the world will choose a new superior general to run the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic clerical order.
Their leader is traditionally known as "the black pope" because of the colour of the simple cassock he wears and because -- like the pope who dresses in white -- he has worldwide influence and usually keeps the position for life.
But this year's general congregation, as the meeting is known, is different. The current superior general, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, 79, received permission from Pope Benedict to retire for reasons of age.
A soft-spoken Dutchman with white hair and a goatee, Kolvenbach has been in the job since 1983 and has won widespread praise for steering the Jesuits through one of their most difficult periods in their 468-year history.
Kolvenbach's charismatic predecessor, a Basque named Pedro Arrupe, had several conflicts with Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul, who believed the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America.
When Arrupe suffered a stroke in the early 1980s Pope John Paul appointed a personal delegate to run the order to make sure it would not drift futher leftwards, a move some Jesuits at the time resented as "papal martial law."
Kolvenbach, by contrast, has been credited with re-establishing good relations with the Vatican over the past 25 years while dealing with issues such as declining vocations and the future of the order founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540.
DECLINING VOCATIONS
In the 1960s, the all-male order officially known as the Society of Jesus peaked with some 36,000 members worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education, refugee help and other social services.
The election of Kolvenbach's successor is expected to take place in mid-January after days of prayer and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio," or murmurings, among the delegates about who might make a good superior general.
Some names have already circulated in religious media.
One is Father Lisbert D'Sousa of India, and some Jesuits have said it is time for the top job to go to someone from the developing world.
"This (the developing world) is not only the new center of gravity for the Society of Jesus but for the Church," Fr. James Martin wrote in America, the weekly of the U.S. Jesuits.
"And an election of a developing world general would be interesting as a possible bellwether for the next papal conclave, whenever that will be," he wrote.
JESUIT FACTS
Jesuit delegates from around the world are gathering in Rome this week to choose a superior general to run the largest male Catholic clerical order. Here are five facts about the Jesuits:
* Founded in 1540 by the Spaniard St. Ignatius Loyola, the Society of Jesus -- as the Jesuits are formally known -- has about 19,200 members in 112 countries, down from a peak of some 36,000 in the 1960s. It is an all-male order with a growing percentage of members from developing countries, especially India.
* The Jesuits were disbanded by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 after political pressure in Europe and restored in 1814 by Pope Pius VII. They were said to be such intelligent debaters that critics coined the adjective "jesuitical" to describe someone who uses sly reasoning to argue a point of view.
* The Jesuits are best known for their prominent role in education, theology, missionary work and publishing, with a strong emphasis on social justice and human rights. They run many prestigious secondary schools and universities around the world and publish leading intellectual journals.
* Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, clashed with the Jesuits. He said the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America. Many of the theologians disciplined by the Vatican in recent years have been Jesuits.
* The new Jesuit leader is elected by a secret ballot. After he is chosen, delegates are not allowed to leave the room until the Pope is informed, in keeping with a centuries-old tradition.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Disclaimer
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