Clement XIV

Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli · 1769 – 1774

Suppressed the Jesuit order under pressure from the Bourbon monarchies, a decision that haunted him until his death.

Ganganelli, a Franciscan, was elected pope in 1769 partly because the Bourbon courts believed he would suppress the Jesuits, which is exactly what happened. France, Spain, Portugal, and Naples had already expelled the Jesuits from their territories. They wanted the pope to dissolve the order entirely. Clement resisted for four years, then issued Dominus ac Redemptor in 1773, suppressing the Society of Jesus worldwide. Over twenty thousand Jesuits were affected. Clement justified the decision as necessary for the peace of the Church, but the real reason was political pressure he could not withstand. The irony is that only Orthodox Russia and Protestant Prussia refused to enforce the suppression, keeping the Jesuits alive until their restoration in 1814. Clement died in 1774, reportedly consumed by guilt and fear of poisoning. Whether the Jesuits actually poisoned him, as some alleged, has no credible evidence.

Killing the Jesuits

The suppression of the Jesuits was the most dramatic papal act of the eighteenth century. Clement destroyed the Church's most effective teaching and missionary order because three Catholic kings demanded it. The Jesuits ran schools, missions, and intellectual institutions across the globe. All of that was shut down overnight.

A Pope Under Pressure

Clement did not want to suppress the Jesuits. He delayed as long as he could. But the Bourbon courts made clear that refusing would mean a permanent break with France, Spain, and Portugal. He chose institutional survival over principle. The Jesuits were restored forty-one years later, and they have never forgotten.