Pope Francis’ advice to young men thinking about becoming Jesuits? “Become a Dominican!” That's how he joked with Father Pedro Chia, director of the Jesuit Communication Office of the Chinese Province, in a video interview recorded on May 24, 2024, but published on YouTube on August 9.
In this 15-minute interview, Pope Francis opened up about various topics including how he reacts to criticism and how he sees the future of the Church.
Pope Francis also spoke about his desire to go to China and the faithfulness of Chinese Catholics. Read more about that here:
Even the Pope asks for help
“I would tell [a young man considering becoming a Jesuit], to allow somebody to accompany him and to enter in a discernment,” Pope Francis then responded more seriously after the joke. “There is something in the Society of Jesus that we should never lose: the missionary spirit. It is a missionary order. It is interesting: The difficulties and resistances that St. Ignatius faced at the beginning were conflicts with people who looked inward and lost their missionary spirit.”
In fact, Pope Francis highlighted that even for him, the fact of being accompanied by someone or consulting his collaborators and listening before making decisions is helpful to avoid making mistakes. “Discernment is important,” he emphasized.
He compared being in a crisis to being in a maze and offered two pieces of advice. “First, you escape from a crisis by rising above, like from a labyrinth. The crisis in a way is like a labyrinth, you walk and walk and never seem to get out. You emerge from a crisis by rising above. And second you never get out by yourself, you get out with help or someone accompanying you,” he explained. “Letting yourself be helped is very important.”
Resolving challenges through dialogue, patience, and humor
Responding to a question by Father Chia about how he responds to resistances in the Church, Pope Francis said that “many times you know you have to wait, to endure, and often correct oneself because behind some resistances there can be a good [constructive] criticism.”
Sometimes criticism can also cause “pain, because the resistances, as they happen in these moments, are not only against me personally, they are against the Church,” the Pope reflected, highlighting for example that he recently read a list of 22 “sedevacantist” groups (that believe that the pontiffs after Pius XII are not legitimate).
He also highlighted, though, that these groups are not very numerous and he believes they will one day reintegrate back into the Church.
“Critics are always helpful. Even if they are not constructive, they are always helpful, because they make one reflect on one’s actions,” the Pope said.
“I have always tried to resolve [challenges] through dialogue, and when this doesn't work, with patience, and always with a sense of humor,” he continued, citing a prayer by St. Thomas More asking for a sense of humor.
He spoke in this context about some of the challenges of his papacy, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the many conflicts affecting the world right now.
The future of the Church and the grace of being forgiven
When asked about where he sees the Church in 50 years, Pope Francis acknowledged that it could be a “smaller, more reduced Church,” but for him “the Church must be careful not to fall into the plague of clericalism and the plague of spiritual worldliness.”
When asked what he would say to his successor, Pope Francis simply responded with “pray.”
“Because the Lord speaks in the prayer,” he added. Then when asked what grace he prays for, Francis responded with a smile, “the grace of being forgiven.”
“May the Lord have patience with me,” he said.
