The Irish standard., 1906-10-27
What Prominent Writer Has to Say of
1.-THE Black Pope" as He is
Commonly Called.
In Germany, and Other Countries as Well,
the Appointment Meets With
Popular Favor.

The new general OF the Jesuits, who
has just been elected. is a Wurtem-
berg German, Father Wernz. and lie
succeeds, as every one knows. IL Span
lard, Father Martini who died some
months ago. says the New York Sun.
The general of the Jesuts, ".rhe
Black Pope" as he is commonly called,
is looked upon as one of the most
influential persons in the Catholic
church, but the influence which he
cxerts is wholly independent OF his
person; 1t rests entirely OH the fact
that he represents and cmbodies. so
to speak, one of the most powerfully
equipped organizations that has ever
existed, the Company of Jesus. Who
the General Of Jcsuits may be is there
fore, at bottom a matter Of very little
luC OSCuALs iSoSCLASuo
power which is popularity attributed
to the Order Of the Jesuits depends
entirely, l repeat in their collective
force. AS for the general IL is known
that he cxerts and commands d. very
real influence, but that is all. Gem
orally even his name is unknown. The
| Black Pope lives and dies, as it were.
anonymous.
At the present moment, however. tho
| election of a German as general OF the
Jesuits has a. very high significance
from the religious and even the po-
litical point of view. This has been
emphasized properly by most Of tho
Italian newspapers.
In the first place it is the first time
| In two centuries that the General of
tho Jesuits is taken from a national
ity that is one of the great powers
Of Europe. Up to Father Wernz, the
general just elected, the Company of
Jesus has had "a generals. The first
four, including the founder Of the or
der st. Ignatius Loyala, belonged to
the Spanish nationality, and at that
time Spain could still be considered
| one of the first nations OF Europe, but
since then all the other generals with
out exception, have been taken from
| the small nations or those of second
order. Thus there were eleven Italians
of whom ten belong to the two CEN
turtles when Italy did not exist as
nation, three Bclgians, one German,
one Czech, one Pole, one Hollander,
one Swiss and so on.
The Company Of Jesus in selecting
its chief from the small neutral states
evidently intended not to become too
national and to preserve intact the
cosmopolitan character which is the
strength OF it's organization. Why
does 1t depart from that practice to-
day? Undoubtedly there are reasons
for this which it may be interesting
to Investigate.
In the first place it must be noted
that the countries OF German race and
language are precisely those where the
Company Of Jesus is at present most
fourishing. The order of the Jesuits
is divided into five assistancies-Ger-
many and the annexed countries, Eng
land, Spain, France, Italy. Now the
German assistancy is much the most
numerous, and 1t contains alone near
ly double the number Of members that
the Italian assistancy does. The Ger
mans, therefore, in the nomination Of
the president general, had at their
command the largest number Of elec-
tors.
Other reasons also may explain this
election Of German general. The
religious crisis which exists at pres
ent in France necessarily reacts on the
relations between the Holy See and
Germany, and the result is more
intimate and closer coming together
between German Catholicism and the