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onehandle

(51,122 posts)
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 12:36 PM Apr 2013

With Pope Francis, it's prime time for Jesuits



NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, the Society of Jesus has faced the same struggles to find priests that have plagued the wider Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Chuck Frederico, one of the priests who evaluate Jesuit applicants, says he usually heard from five a week, or fewer.

Then, last month, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica — the first Jesuit to be elected pope. The number of queries jumped to four or five each day.

"Some guys who made contact in the past weeks are serious candidates," said Frederico, vocations director for the region from Maine to Georgia. "This election of the Holy Father has given them reason to examine this more fully."

Jesuits have only started absorbing the novelty of one of their own leading the church. Most were so shocked, they Googled to confirm the connection before they dared to celebrate. Robert Wassmann, an instructor at Washington Jesuit Academy, a middle school, told the Archdiocese of Washington newspaper he ran down the hall shouting: "He's a Jesuit! He's a Jesuit!"

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-prime-time-jesuits-155353407.html
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With Pope Francis, it's prime time for Jesuits (Original Post) onehandle Apr 2013 OP
I speak from a vast fund of ignorance here, Demoiselle Apr 2013 #1

Demoiselle

(6,787 posts)
1. I speak from a vast fund of ignorance here,
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 01:36 PM
Apr 2013

and I'm not a Catholic (a lapsed Episcopalian in fact) but I was interested to learn that no Jesuit has been elected pope before. I've always thought of the order as terribly influential, so it surprised me. Again, I'm ignorant but interested, so be kind.

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