Intervista a Peter-Hans Kolvenbach [Versione italiana]
We meet the Jesuits' Father General in a hall on the fourth floor of the general curia not far from the Vatican. The atmosphere is at once austere and welcoming, a bit like Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, 79, a Dutchman born of an Italian mother. Father Kolvenbach lived in Lebanon for many years before his election as the 28th successor of Ignatius Loyola at the head and service of the Society of Jesus. The warm hospitality, the subtle sense of humor, and the shy smile of the man at the head of the world's largest religious order (if we consider the various Franciscan families as separate orders) ease the interviewer's awe, an awe which vanishes completely when, at the end of the lunch that marks the end of our interview, the so-called "Black Pope" - the title that the Father General of the Jesuits has been given for centuries on account of his black tunic and his election for life - begins to clear the table.
In a few weeks, after the 35th general congregation, which will open in Rome on January 7th, has elected his successor, Father Kolvenbach will be a simple Jesuit again subject to a superior ("Really" - he says looking towards the Vatican - "I've always had a superior"). In all likelihood his superior will be that of the Beirut, Lebanon, community - "provided Beirut is still there" - he adds with a bitter and ironic smile, thinking about his adopted country.
For the second time in the history of the Society of Jesus, after the case of Pedro Arrupe, Father General from 1965 to 1983, who was forced to resign by an incapacitating stroke, the Father General will step down before his death.
I began by asking how he came to this decision to step down...
How did you reach this decision?
KOLVENBACH: In the wake of Vatican Council II and in compliance with the decision to impose an age limit on the pastors of the Church, the Society of Jesus, too, has begun to weigh the pros and cons of having a Father General elected for life.
We were faced with three options: a generalship with an age limit, like the one imposed on bishops; a generalship lasting for a given number of years, like that of most religious orders; or a generalship with no age limit, but providing for the possibility of a resignation to be handed in to the general congregation, the only institution entitled to accept it, as long as the Pope gave his consent to said procedure and the authorities designated by the Society thought it proper.
The Holy Father has chosen the third option as the most consistent with our founder's inspiration and the charisma of the Society. Father Arrupe too resigned on account of his old age. For the same reason, and with the Pope's consent, I will hand in my resignation to the general congregation next January.
In recent years, the Society of Jesus has seen a drop in candidates for the novitiate. What are the reasons?
KOLVENBACH: Sometimes we forget that a religious family is, in a happy expression of the Second Vatican Council, "a gift of the Spirit to the Church." The Church can't be the Church without clergy and laity, but it can be Church without religious life in its present form. The Church lived for centuries without the Jesuits!
But when, at a certain time, the Church retired into herself, as it were, the Spirit inspired Saint Ignatius to remind her of her missionary vocation all over the world, as He called Saint Anthony the Egyptian to the wilderness to remind a too-bureaucratic Church of the liturgical and contemplative impulse of the calling to the monastic life. With reference to our time we can quote Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Charles de Foucauld's Brothers and Sisters. The consecrated families created by their intuition live with the common people, with the poor, but also lead a highly contemplative life.
Religious families are born and they disappear, not because they did something wrong, but because the Church requires other gifts to meet other needs of the people of God. The simple fact that today a young man who wants to put himself at the service of the Church doesn't necessarily have to choose between the seminary and the novitiate, but can also find his mission in one of the new ecclesial movements that are also a gift of the Spirit, changes the whole context of consecrated life.
Really, when we look at the number of Jesuit novices in Europe, we see an actual possibility, not only of a sharp decrease in vocations, but even of their complete disappearance. On the other hand, the figures coming from India and South America are extremely encouraging.
KOLVENBACH: We must be prudent when making geographical considerations, since vocations are found in many provinces of Europe, whilst there is a shortage in some regions of Asia. Anyway, it is true that vocations come to life in a fervent, often in a persecuted and oppressed Church. We cannot expect too much from a Church that seems to be on the point of death.
What do you think of the situation of the Church in Europe?
KOLVENBACH: I think about something Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts and a man who wasn't himself particularly religious, once said: "I like my religion the same way I like my tea - boiling." If the parish, ecclesial life, isn't strong, fervent, and warm, it won't generate vocations to the religious life or the priesthood. This is evident not only in Europe, but also in Latin America, where the shortage of priests is tremendous. On the other hand, in areas where only priests and religious were once active, today laity are assuming new responsibilities.
Cooperation with the laity is also increasing inside the Society. What are the most significant experiences?
KOLVENBACH: A look at the figures in the field of education is enough. In the 16th century the staff of a college was entirely made up of Jesuits, except for the proctor, i.e. the person in charge of corporal punishment for the students, who was to be a layman by statute. Nowadays the number of Jesuits with a full-time teaching occupation amounts to about 4,000, whilst that of their non-Jesuit colleagues to about 150,000. The same applies to other fields of the Society's apostolic activity. In my opinion, as John Paul II pointed out, the laity's active, conscious and responsible participation in the Church's mission in this wonderful and dramatic moment of history is a gift for the present time and a hope for the future.
Is there a risk of the laity becoming simply a remedy for the lack of Jesuits?
KOLVENBACH: No, the change of perspective is radical: the laity aren't just an indispensable form of help or a solution for ensuring the future of our works, but the Society of Jesus puts itself at the service of a shared mission with the laity, uniting itself with them in a kind of apprenticeship, serving together and learning from one another, discerning together the apostolic objectives of a common mission at the service of the Church. At the next general congregation we will be able to take stock of this partnership in a common mission which invites us to live a full Christian life as men with and for others.
THE "FLASH" OF MISSION
At the last general congregation it was said that you hoped the Society would find a flash of insight, like the link between faith and justice at the 1974 congregation. What "flash" of insight are you hoping for from the general congregation that will open in a few weeks?
KOLVENBACH: The "flash" will be the quest for the greater glory of God, for apostolic service to the other which is ever more generous and complete, because mediocrity has no place in the worldview of Ignatius. A congregation meeting for an election is above all touched by the Ignatian magis, that particular grace which makes a new start possible, the impulse to go beyond what has already been achieved and attempted. It is significant that the provincial congregations which have prepared the general congregation dealt, not so much with problems concerning the life of the Society (organization, community life, identity) as with the need for a deep renewal of its vocation to serve the Lord's mission in the Church and for the world, under the Universal Pastor, Christ's Vicar on earth, the Holy Father.
Even St. Ignatius regarded this "small Society" - this was the name he called it - not as an end in itself. It aims not so much at its own growth as to be at the service of the Lord in obedience, by moving the heart of the Church to all kinds of frontiers at the service and in defense of the faith received. The flash might therefore be a new apostolic and missionary fervor.
How would you define the mission of the Society of Jesus today?
KOLVENBACH: As servants of the mission of Christ, the Jesuits desire to continue that mission among the men and women of our time, above all where Christ and His Gospel are not known or are only poorly known. That implies a presence on frontiers which were at one time the geographic borders of Christianity, but which today are increasingly the frontiers between faith and culture, between Christian faith and science, between the Church and human society, and between the "good news" and an anguished and tormented world.
Depending on the needs of the mission, there will always be a great variety of apostolic actions and choices, but all of them will confront us with three tasks: announcing God's word, sharing Christ's life, and bearing witness to the charity inspired and fostered by the Spirit.
In addition to being "men of the frontier," Jesuits are also known as mediators. That's an increasingly difficult challenge in a world more known for polarization and superficiality...
KOLVENBACH: It's true, this capacity for mediation is rooted in the very composition of the Society: we've been international from the beginning, with a great respect for different cultures.
What all Jesuits have in common is St. Ignatius' spiritual exercises. These exercises, however, are compatible with all ways of life: they are accessible to the layman and religious alike. Even an Opus Dei member or a Legionary of Christ can do them without difficulty.
This openness creates a vocation of not being at one extreme or the other, but to help people follow the path that leads to God. It can be said, I think, that an extremist could never become a Jesuit. This doesn't mean, however, that a Jesuit is a diplomat. He seeks the absolute, but the absolute is God alone, and everything else is relative to God, to the human person, and to creation. (pauses) That's a truly Jesuitical response!
Some in the Church believe the guidelines worked out by Vatican Council II are yet to be fully applied. Others, on the contrary, seem to advocate the restoration of pre-conciliar elements. What is the Jesuits' position on this?
KOLVENBACH: When the Holy Father met the clergy at Auronzo di Cadore last summer, he was asked how the guidelines of Vatican Council II were to be implemented. He replied that the Church is growing, though in silence and amid sufferings, giving life to vital realities which grow in the souls of believers and turn faith into a joyful experience, no matter whether this is detected by statisticians, since faith does not need statistical data. In the end the Pope said: "We can now clearly see the good fruit borne by Vatican Council II."
When John Paul II asked the Jesuits to help him turn into visible achievements the irruption of the Spirit manifested in Vatican Council II, they realized that this did not simply involve a partial change, but a radical conversion of our heart. The invitation to live the Church as a communion, let alone the preference for the poor, requires, not only a change in our organization or a great number of new ideas and initiatives, but above all a new heart ready to be transformed by the One who is the Spirit of the Council.
Over the years, you've handled delicate relationships between some Jesuit theologians and the Vatican. What are the necessary limits, and what's the space for welcoming a plurality of theological reflection in the Society?
KOLVENBACH: In order to show her real identity the Church needs the service of theologians, consisting of competence, capacity and creativeness. The tasks they are faced with, i.e., defending, deepening and spreading the holy doctrine of the Lord, are more difficult than ever nowadays.
Theology unfolds today in a nervous atmosphere of conflicts and polarization, in which everything is immediately classified as either "right" or "left," as conservatism or progressive thought. Even a constructive critique by a theologian, based on deep competence, pastoral concern and discernment born in prayer, runs the risk of being taken up by the mass media in a partial fashion (either unwittingly or deliberately) in order to turn it into front-page news. On the other hand, the Church can't renounce its right, and its duty, to protect the faithful against errors or possibly erroneous interpretations of a given theological work, even if it's valid in itself. In this context, which at first blush can seem discouraging, it's important to be grateful for so many theologians - among them, not a few Jesuits - who provide the Church the indispensable service of positive, clear and creative theological reflection, which serves the greater good of the whole Church in its socio-cultural diversity.
Although Christianity has been preached in Asia for four centuries, only a small percentage of the population has been converted. Yet in some countries, South Korea for example, there is an encouraging increase in the number of conversions. How do you account for such ambiguous phenomena?
KOLVENBACH: When dealing with the problem of evangelization in Asia, we must consider the enormous cultural, social, political and economic differences characterizing the regions of that continent. The post-synodal exhortation Ecclesia in Asia provides a very good synthesis of the question. The spread of Christianity in South Korea is not easy to account for, even though the role of the Church in the defense of human rights under dictatorial regimes has won her the people's admiration. The generous and effective participation of the laity in the process of evangelization which has characterized the spread of Christianity in South Korea from the start has made a great contribution to the growth of the Church.
Everywhere in Asia, which is the cradle of religions and even nowadays so attractive from a religious point of view, the Church should show those spiritual features in which Asia may recognize the intensity of its spirituality. The Church is too often a stranger, alien to the continent's aspirations; hence the importance of a real encounter between Christians and non-Christians, not so much an enculturation as a generous, disinterested interculturation - to quote Benedict XVI's expression - which does not impose anything, but proposes - to use the language of the other - the One who is "the world's desire."
China is a priority for the Church. How does one offer a Chinese "reading" of the Gospel, and not just a transliteration?
KOLVENBACH: The intuition of St. Francis Xavier remains valid today: China, in his vision, was the key for the evangelization of East Asia, including Japan. Today, China is important for the entire world. Fifty years after the death of Xavier, exhausted with waiting to enter China "either into the imperial court or a Canton prison," Fr. Matteo Ricci succeeded in arriving at Canton, in the court of Peking, to set up the first Christian community and to build the first church in the imperial city. He didn't transliterate the Gospel, but created a Chinese reading of it. He and his brothers followed St. Paul's guidelines: becoming Chinese amongst the Chinese to announce the Gospel to the Chinese.
China is recovering traditional values. The Cultural Revolution had the devastating impact of a tsunami. Yet a spiritual need has emerged from this disaster which politicians have been unable to satisfy with their emphasis on economic development at all costs. In this context of desolation and expectation there is a new interest in Confucius, Laotse and others amongst the spiritual fathers of the nation.
We have to return to the path of Matteo Ricci, in order to understand the material and spiritual needs and aspirations of the Chinese people today. The hope, as well as the new element in the evangelization of China, lies in the numerous Christian communities that are already there. They themselves, the Chinese faithful, can craft a Chinese reading of the Gospel much better than all the foreign missionaries. The recent letter of Pope Benedict XVI was intended precisely to prepare the Church in China for this evangelizing role.
In South America, a pre-eminently Catholic area, there is apparently no solution to the problem of the huge socio-economic divide, and the demand for justice is systematically denied. What's the role of the Society of Jesus in Latin America today?
KOLVENBACH: If our apostolic works - whether specifically social, or educational and pastoral - are faithful to the missions of faith and justice, if they're able to transmit the preferential love for the poor which is the patrimony of the Church, which was confirmed by the meeting of Latin American bishops in Aparecida in May - and if we try to form honest and competent people who aren't interested only in making themselves rich, but who are motivated to improve their country according to the social doctrine of the Church, we'll be able to make our own small contribution to this feat so closely linked with the preparation of the Kingdom of Heaven. My impression is that at this moment in Latin America, the priorities of the Jesuits are programs of political formation for leaders, in strict collaboration with the universities, social centers and grassroots apostolates. We must remember that in some South American countries the elimination of poverty is already underway. It is only a beginning, as there is enormous suffering and injustice, but this proves that it is possible to win the battle for justice. We should nevertheless be vigilant in our fight against poverty and make sure that faith keeps growing as economic problems are solved; we must prevent prosperity from stifling faith as is the case with many traditionally Christian countries.
In Africa, what efforts is the Society making in theology in order to present the faithful with a message that knows how to inculturate the Gospel in local traditions?
KOLVENBACH: Despite so much conflict and suffering, theological research goes on in Africa to support people in their efforts to achieve peace and reconciliation and the Church in her aspiration to be "God's family" all over the continent. What the Jesuits aim at, especially in their schools of theology, is linking theological research with the reality of Africa and the concerns of the African Church. These theological interests haven't neglected the composition of liturgical music, for example, as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or of works inspired by traditional African art, such as the Via Crucis by the late Fr. Engelbert Mueng. There's also a theological interest in realities such as illness, healing and witchcraft.
The Society of Jesus pays great attention to intercultural and interreligious dialogue. Over the years, since September 11th in particular, fears and divisions have seemed to prevail. What has the Society done to encourage dialogue?
KOLVENBACH: It is unfortunately true that the attempt on the Twin Towers, justified on religious grounds by a group of violent fanatics, has ruled out any possibility of dialogue between peoples, cultures and above all religions as wishful thinking.
Yet humanity needs dialogue unless it intends to sentence itself to death. Dialogue is not to be intended in the diplomatic or strategic sense, but as open and sincere dialogue participating in the permanent dialogue between man and God, to use John Paul II' s expression. This involves our taking the first step in all circumstances in spite of all the discouraging experiences we have been through.
Along with the Church, we Jesuits believe in a four-fold dialogue: the dialogue of life in common, in a spirit of acceptance of our neighbor; the dialogue of action in common with all men and women of good will, aiming at building a better world; the dialogue of religious experience, which enables keen believers, in a desert without God, to trace ways leading to God; and last, the dialogue of theological exchange, to which many Jesuit experts contribute, because being religious nowadays involves being interreligious, "being part of the Church in a new way," to use Paul VI' s words.
Islam in particular is awakening in many Europeans fears of being overrun...
KOLVENBACH: First of all, we have to clarify something: we speak too glibly of "Muslims," as if they're all the same. In reality, there are fanatical Muslims and there are Muslims convinced that once they arrive in Europe they no longer need to follow the Koran because they're outside the land of Islam. Islam is not monolithic: think about the difference, for example, between the Sunnis, the majority and the major pillars of Islam, and the Shi'ites, a minority (although today to mention the Shi'ites is to talk about many "hot spots," such as Iran, Iraq and southern Lebanon).
We also can't forget that Islam has always had its mystics, the Sufis. Much also depends upon nationality: a Muslim in Pakistan - a word that means "nation of the pure" - is very different from a Muslim in Algeria, which has lived for so long with the French.
That said, I can talk about the experience of Beirut, which is my city. The Jesuits there have chosen to be a bridge between Muslims and Christians. In part, the reason is geographical: the largest houses of the Jesuits in Beirut are on the so-called "Green Line," the border between the majority Christian area and the Muslim neighborhood. Our university is also there, because we always wanted everyone to be welcome. That's cost us a lot. We've often been hit by bombardments. When I was the provincial in Lebanon, during the war, I couldn't open the windows because there were snipers across the street. But the cost isn't only material: some Christians say that our approach is wrong because we've trained Muslim lawyers, Muslim engineers, and so on. Some would prefer that the Muslims stay in a kind of ghetto, including an intellectual ghetto, in order not to lose control of the country.
On the strictly religious and theological level, is dialogue with Islam possible?
KOLVENBACH: I'm afraid that at a theological and dogmatic level, dialogue with Islam is impossible. Often in Beirut, Muslims would ask me: "How is it possible that an educated person, a professor, believes in three gods?" Obviously, they were referring to the Christian dogma of the Trinity. That's an example of the difficulties of dialogue. Some who are favorable to theological dialogue with Muslims forget that at a certain point, you have to choose. For Muslims, it's very clear: God is one. They chant it five times every day. At a personal level, however, it's not only possible but beautiful to have Muslim friends. Indeed, in a climate of general religious transformation, especially in Europe, it's important that truly believing Christians and truly believing Muslims meet one another. On so many points that touch us all - suffering, prayer, death - dialogue is possible. I believe, as the Pope has often said, that we have to promote a dialogue of life, partly to resist a temptation that's so strong in the Middle East: the ghetto, separation.
Moreover, we have to make common cause for the good of humanity. Many Muslims today are sensitive to the theme of peace, and very committed. After September 11, everyone talked about Islam in terms of jihad, holy war, and violence. It's true, one can find this in the Koran, but the Old Testament is likewise not all that peaceful in some passages ... Today, many Muslims are firmly committed to the cause of peace. It's a good opportunity to work together in the interests of the entire human community.
I would like to conclude our interview with a reference to your predecessor, Father Arrupe. During your 24 years as Father General, what aspects of the legacy of your predecessor, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, did you emphasize?
KOLVENBACH: To tell the truth, I didn't really have to do anything to keep the legacy of Fr. Arrupe alive. It's impossible to forget Arrupe, who was so committed to the Second Vatican Council, especially in the area of religious life. He's part of the Society today spontaneously, without having to try! That's not something one could have predicted: it wasn't the case, for example, with the two generals before him, Fr. Janssens and Fr. Ledochowski. Today the Society of Jesus, in its spirituality, simply "is" Fr. Arrupe.
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