'Once a Jesuit always a Jesuit ?...' - Part 2

(Vatican Radio) Among the Jesuits in Rome is church historian and well known author, Professor Norman Tanner. Veronica Scarisbrick recently sat down with him in our studios in an effort to find out more about what it is that makes a Jesuit...
Listen:
In the second part of this interview which she’s called ‘Once a Jesuit, always a Jesuit?..’ she begins by asking Professor Tanner about the openness Pope Francis, who as we know is a Jesuit, has towards everyone around him:
"Yes I think he's been able to transcend a lot of the tensions which are there by his outgoing and warm personality. On the other hand of course we know he's often spoken of the devil, he's had to face difficulties within the church, he lived in a time in his own country Argentine when there was a very difficult political situation. Many of those whom he knew in the Order and outside the Jesuit Order suffered grievously...so he's fully aware you might say of the reality of evil and encourages Christians by his mentioning the devil and so on to confront this other aspect of our lives and not be naively idealistic. And indeed his early family itself lived in Italy and migrated to Argentine before the birth of Pope Francis and that's a huge upheaval for a family to move from Italy to, as he said, the other end of the world. So he gives this joyous and encouraging face to us but he's fully aware of the difficulties of life.
Asked by Veronica Scarisbrick about the frequent reference of Pope Francis of converting and of the possibility of changing one's life style Professor Tanner replies:
" I think that's very important, we have two senses of conversion I suppose becoming Christians becoming Catholics but also in the second sense of encouraging Christians and Catholics themselves to convert again and go deeper into their faith, not just in terms of the intellectual side but also of life style, way of living"...
Another question put to Professor Tanner in this interview relates to how Saint Ignatius might have reacted to the election of a Jesuit Pope:
" Well it's true that Ignatius was very cautious, indeed against the idea of Jesuits becoming bishops. he fought in his own lifetime strenuously against popes who wanted to make various Jesuits into bishops or cardinals. So he was very hesitant in that respect and it felt that talented or important members of the order were in a sense taken out of the order for a greater good, but nevertheless taken out of the order, and so people that the order needed were not there anymore. In Ignatius's lifetime although there were plenty of Jesuits who were asked to become bishops, one or two accepted Ignatius managed to persuade the Pope not to appoint most of them. But there was never any question in his lifetime of a Jesuit actually becoming Pope, so we'll leave that question to another day ..."
However not satisfied with leaving that question to another day Veronica Scarisbrick dared push the question further asking whether Ignatius would have approved of a Jesuit Pope :
"Well it never got to the stage of Pope, the key point was whether Jesuits would be made bishops. so we were in a very difficult time with the Reformation, Counter- Reformation and there were lots of diocese which needed good bishops and a succession of popes wanted to make various Jesuits into bishops or archbishops or cardinals ...and the order has always admitted this possibility but it accepts it with some reluctance"...
So where does the oath Jesuits take not to seek higher office stand then, Veronica Scarisbrick queried and again how does the Pope himself stand towards his Jesuit Superior General now that he's the head of the Catholic Church ?
"Yes that's right we take a vow not to seek these higher offices.. but if we're asked or ordered by the Pope to accept a bishopric then obviously we would normally say yes.... if we go a step back when a Jesuit is asked to become a bishop he remains in a sense part of the order but obviously in another sense he’s outside the order. So that’s even more the case when a man is chosen to become pope. We’re very pleased that the Pope has kept as it were his Jesuit links but he’s been asked by the Church, by God to take on a new role.
Other questions in this interview focus around the Jesuit’s solemn vows, their formation, their training ,their belonging to the family…