The 31 Jesuit Generals
Ignatius of Loyola, the first Superior General.
I took from Wikipedia a list of Superior Generals of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and made a chart showing which Popes reigned during that particular Jesuit General’s rule. A Jesuit General is also known as the “Black Pope” and the existing Pope is called the “White Pope.” As you see there have been more Popes, 50 totaled, compared to only 30 Jesuit Generals! What does that imply? Does it mean the Jesuit General gets rid of any Pope he doesn’t like? Their favorite method of assassination is poisoning. Pope John Paul I lived only 33 days!
# | Jesuit Generals | Popes |
---|---|---|
1. | Ignatius of Loyola April 19, 1541 – July 31, 1556 | Paul III Julius III Marcellus II Paul IV |
2. | Diego Laynez July 2, 1558 – January 19, 1565 | Pius IV |
3. | Francis Borgia July 2, 1565 – October 1, 1572 | Pius V |
4. | Everard Mercurian April 23, 1573 – August 1, 1580 | Gregory XIII |
5. | Claudio Acquaviva February 19, 1581 – January 31, 1615 | Sixtus V Urban VII Gregory XIV Innocent IX Clement VIII Leo XI Paul V |
6. | Mutio Vitelleschi November 15, 1615 – February 9, 1645 | Gregory XV Urban VIII |
7. | Vincenzo Carafa January 7, 1646 – June 8, 1649 | Innocent X |
8. | Francesco Piccolomini December 21, 1649 – June 17, 1651 | Innocent X |
9. | Aloysius Gottifredi January 21, 1652 – March 12, 1652 | Innocent X |
10. | Goschwin Nickel March 17, 1652 – July 31, 1664 | Alexander VII |
11. | Giovanni Paolo Oliva July 31, 1664 – November 26, 1681 | Clement IX Clement X Innocent XI |
12. | Charles de Noyelle July 5, 1682 – December 12, 1686 | Alexander VIII |
13. | Thyrsus González de Santalla July 6, 1687 – October 27, 1705 | Innocent XII Clement XI |
14. | Michelangelo Tamburini January 31, 1706 – February 28, 1730 | Innocent XIII Benedict XIII |
15. | Franz Retz March 7, 1730 – November 19, 1750 | Clement XII |
16. | Ignacio Visconti July 4, 1751 – May 4, 1755 | Benedict XIV |
17. | Aloysius Centurione November 30, 1755 – October 2, 1757 | Benedict XIV |
18. | Lorenzo Ricci October 17, 1782 – October 21, 1785 | Clement XIII Clement XIV Pius VI |
19. | Tadeusz Brzozowsk August 7, 1814 – February 5, 1820 | Pius VII |
20. | Luigi Fortis October 18, 1820 – January 27, 1829 | Leo XII |
21. | Jan Roothaan July 9, 1829 – May 8, 1853 | Pius VIII Gregory XVI Pius IX |
22. | Peter Jan Beckx August 2, 1853 – March 4, 1887 | Leo XIII |
23. | Anton Anderledy March 4, 1887 – January 18, 1892 Berisal, | Leo XIII |
24. | Luis Martín October 2, 1892 – April 18, 1906 | Pius X |
25. | Franz Xavier Wernz September 8, 1906 – August 20, 1914 | Pius X |
26. | Wlodimir Ledóchowski February 11, 1915 – December 13, 1942 | Benedict XV |
27. | Jean-Baptiste Janssens September 15, 1946 – October 5, 1964 | Pius XII John XXIII |
28. | Pedro Arrupe May 22, 1965 – September 3, 1983 | Paul VI John Paul I |
29. | Peter Hans Kolvenbach September 13, 1983 – January 14, 2008 | John Paul II Benedict XVI |
30. | Adolfo Nicolás January 19, 2008 – October 3, 2016 | Benedict XVI Francis |
31. | Arturo Sosa October 14, 2016 – | Francis |
Only one Pope in history, Innocent X, spans the reign of 3 Jesuit Generals. He reigned toward the end of the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) in Europe when millions of people were killed. Pope Innocent X objected to the final peace treaty of that war!
“One of the most devastating wars in European history. The Thirty Years War began as a conflict between German Protestants and German Catholics, that slowly expanded to include most of the rest of Europe, with first the Protestant powers joining in to protect their co-religionists in Germany, and then Catholic France supporting the protestant cause as part of the long running Bourbon-Hapsburg rivalry (and before that the Valois-Hapsburg rivalry). The war caused massive destruction in Germany, and may have reduced the population of the area by half, in part because much of the fighting was carried out by mercenary armies that plundered every area they crossed.” From http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_thirtyyears.html