“By now we’ve seen enough Jesuit saints, with their extraordinary loyalty to the Pope that it comes as no surprise that this man too was loyal to the Pope, oh, but what loyalty! Loyalty to the hand that stabs you. Provided you believe that hand is guided by the hand of God. And of course, it wasn’t easy to (even as he had that kind of loyalty) to keep others in line. Out of the 23,000 Jesuits put out of existence in 1773, thanks in large measure to the saint who’s virtues we are reflecting on – ST JOSEPH PIGNATELLI, there is not a single evidence of a public criticism of the Pope. How we need that kind of loyalty today! When one supposedly Catholic writer, take an Andrew Greeley in Chicago, or a Richard McBrien at Notre Dame, or a Hans Kung in Germany – almost every time they either open their mouth or put pen to paper, it is galled and bitterness in attacking the Vicar of Christ. We need this today and no doubt, I have no doubt, that one of the providential reasons for the suppression of the order with such dire consequences, was to give the world the lesson of fidelity, even under duress.”
St Joseph Pignatelli – Pray for us, our Holy Father and for the whole Church, especially the Catholicdigital world!
Venerable John A Hardon SJ (Archives of Lectures)
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