The theme of women and their role in the Church, which came up several times during the trip from 26 to 29 September to Luxembourg and Belgium, was also central to Pope Francis’ conversation with the 150 Jesuits he met in Brussels. As on every apostolic trip, Francis did not miss a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus on the program, that day was sandwiched between the visit to the campus of the Catholic University of Louvain and the surprise stop at the Brussels Expo Palace with 6 thousand young people gathered for a vigil.
At the Collège Saint-Michel the meeting took place with the brothers from Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. A private meeting, interspersed with questions and answers on themes inherent to the mission of the Society of Jesus today or on the current situation of the world and the Church – from secularisation to inculturation, from the Synod to migration – and also a song sung on the guitar at the opening by the superior of the Netherlands Region, Father Marc Desmet. As always, La Civiltà Cattolica publishes the full text of the dialogue today, in an article written by Father Antonio Spadaro, who highlights its “spontaneity” and its “immediacy”.
“The Church is a woman”
“The Church is a woman,” Francis responds to a Jesuit’s question about “the difficulty of giving women a more just and adequate place in the Church.” “I see women on the path of charisms and I do not want to limit the discussion on the role of women in the Church to the theme of ministry,” comments the Pope, in general, “machismo and feminism” are ‘market’ logics. He stresses that he is increasingly trying to put women in the Vatican with roles of increasing responsibility. And things are changing: you can see and feel it.
Women in the Vatican
The Pope recalls that the Secretary of the Interior is a woman (Sister Raffaella Petrini), that the Dicastery for Integral Human Development “also has a woman as vice” (Sister Alessandra Smerilli), that in the “team for the appointment of bishops” there are three women (Petrini herself, then Sister Yvonne Reungoat and Maria Lía Zervino, appointed members of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2022): “Since they were there to select the candidates, things are going much better: they are sharp in their judgments.” In the Dicastery for Consecrated Life, the vice-president is a woman (Sister Simona Brambilla, secretary) and in the Council for the Economy, the vice-coordinator is a woman, Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhoof.
“Women, in short, enter the Vatican with roles of great responsibility: we will continue along this path. Things are working better than before,” the Pope assures. He also recalls, in this regard, an anecdote with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen: We were talking about a specific problem and I asked her: ‘But how do you handle this type of problem?’ She replied: “As all mothers do.” His answer made me think a lot…
Migrants to be integrated
In the conversation, the Pope then addresses the question of migration, which needs to be studied carefully. Once again he lists the four verbs with which to decline action in favour of migrants: welcome, accompany, promote, integrate. If this is missing, it becomes “a serious problem”. “A migrant who is not integrated ends up badly, but the society in which he finds himself also ends up badly,” warns the Pontiff, recalling the 2016 attack in Belgium, at Zaventem airport, which cost the lives of 16 people, at the hands of two terrorists affiliated with ISIS. “This tragedy is also the result of a lack of integration” and “the Church must take seriously the work with migrants”.
Aging of Europe
In addition to this, Pope Francis reiterates “one thing that is close to my heart” and that is that “Europe no longer has children, it is aging”. It needs immigrants to renew its life. Now it is a time of great poverty and poverty. “Become a matter of survival.”
The community is more important than the priest
Not only few children, but also few vocations. The subject was raised by a religious: “How do you see the future of parish communities without priests?” “The community is more important than the priest. The priest is a servant of the community,” the Pontiff replied. He cites the example of nuns who take on the role of leaders in some parts of the world, such as the Peruvian Congregation of nuns, who have the “specific mission” of “going to those situations where there is no priest.” They do everything: they preach, they baptize… If in the end they send a priest, they go somewhere else.
The Jesuit must not be afraid of anything
Speaking of mission, the Pope, looking at the Belgian context, invites the members of the Order of St. Ignatius not to be afraid: “The Jesuit must not be afraid of anything. He is a man in tension between two forms of courage: the courage to seek God in prayer and the courage to go to the frontiers. As “masters” the Pope points to Father Matteo Ricci, Father Roberto De Nobili and other great missionaries who “frightened some in the Church with their courageous action” but “have set the limit of enculturation.” This limit “must be sought in discernment. And we discern by praying.” The prayer of the Jesuit “develops in extreme and difficult situations. This is the beauty of our spirituality: taking risks.”
New forms of paganism
Regarding the “complex phenomenon” of secularisation, Francis speaks of “forms of paganism”: “It is not necessary for the statue of a pagan god to speak of paganism: the environment itself, the air we breathe, is a gaseous pagan god! And we must preach to this culture with witness, service and faith. And we must do it from within with prayer.” Service makes dialogue “fruitful,” but dialogue is often hampered by “strong clericalism” in the Church. “Where there is clericalism, there is no service. For the love of God, never confuse evangelization with proselytism!
Intellectual apostolate
For the Pope, the “intellectual apostolate” is also important, part of the vocation of the Jesuits who “must be present in the academic world, in research and also in communication.” Let me be clear – recommends Jorge Mario Bergoglio – when the General Congregations of the Society of Jesus say inserting themselves in the people and in history, it does not mean “making a carnival”, but inserting themselves in even more institutional contexts with some “rigidity”, in the common sense of the word. It is not always necessary to seek informality.
Synodality, a grace
One question then concerns synodality, which is at the heart of the Synod that is being held in the Vatican. “Synodality is not easy, no, and sometimes because there are figures of authority who do not allow dialogue to emerge. A parish priest can make decisions alone, but he can make them with his advice. And for this reason a bishop and also the Pope.” Francis says he is certain that with the Synod “things will be clarified precisely with the synodal method”: “Synodality in the Church is a grace! Authority is created in synodality.”
Causes for beatification
Finally, Pope Bergoglio confirms that the case of Father Pedro Arrupe, a Jesuit of Spanish origin, superior general from 1965 to 1983, proclaimed Servant of God, “is open.” “The problem” is the review of so many writings: the analysis “requires time.” On the cause of Henri De Lubac, another “great Jesuit” often cited, the Pontiff says he does not know “if his cause has been presented.” While revealing to his brothers what he would later announce publicly at Mass in Brussels, namely the start of the cause of King Baudouin: “I did it directly, because it seems to me that here we are going in this direction.”
