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!"
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