Members of the Society of Jesus are a breed apart, not only as the biggest and most influential men's order in the Roman Catholic Church but also as the group with the famed "fourth vow." All Catholic religious orders require members to take the three age-old oaths of poverty, chastity and obedience, but the Jesuits have a fourth vow all their own: special obedience to the Pope. This vow of fealty has become the focus of the recent struggle by more liberal Jesuits against conservatives in the Vatican and in the Society. Last week the delegates to an unusual General Congregation* that is charting the controversial future course of the Jesuits voted to change policy on the papal vow—an act that violated the express wishes of the Pope.
The dramatic decision came when the 235 Jesuit fathers, gathered from 80 nations, were about to enter their third and final month of deliberations in the horseshoe-shaped aula at the order's headquarters palazzo in Rome. The delegates, many of them wearing turtleneck sweaters or loud ties instead of clerical black, cast their votes by punching buttons on their desks that registered placet (it pleases) or non placet on an electronic Scoreboard behind the dais.
Special Merit. The fourth vow originally made Jesuits available for any tasks the Pope desired, whether to stem the tide of Protestantism or spread the gospel to other continents. The source of the present trouble is that while most Jesuit priests once took the fourth vow, today less than half are permitted to do so. The vow has evolved into a sign of special merit based largely on scholarship. Only those who take it hold leadership positions, including all seats at the current General Congregation.
This two-tiered system particularly rankles with younger Jesuits who do not want to be relegated forever to second-class status if they prefer to promote social justice in slums rather than write books and man classrooms. Since recruitment to the order has become a serious problem (membership dropped from 36,038 in 1965 to 29,436 last year), the fourth vow was high on the agenda when the General Congregation was convened by the progressive Basque who heads the order, Superior General Pedro Arrupe (TIME cover, April 23,1973). Many of the 1,020 postulata (proposed changes) that flowed to Rome before the meeting had raised the vow issue.
But two weeks after the closed-door meeting began on Dec. 1, Arrupe circulated a letter he had received from Jean Cardinal Villot, the Vatican Secretary of State, informing him that Pope Paul did not want any changes made concerning the vow. The Pope did not explain why, but speculation is that he favors the elitist tradition and fears anything that might hasten radical changes. The fathers nevertheless debated the fourth vow; some proposed doing away with it altogether. Last week, however, the Congregation voted to extend it to all Jesuit priests. (Nonordained Jesuit brothers would still be excluded, as they now are.) This not only ignored Cardinal Villot's warning but set up a major confrontation with the papacy—even though the vote was a test of sentiment, not a final action.