Una carta inédita de Francisco Javier Clavijero en torno a la supresión de la Compañía de Jesús

Abstract

This text by the Jesuit, Francisco Javier Clavijero in exile in Italy, was written after the death of Pope Clement XIV (1774) who had decreed the suppression of the Society of Jesus a year before. The letter strongly criticizes the Pope's decision which Clavijero considers to be deeply unfair and sensely cruel, fruit of a deplorable compliance with the monarchy of the major powers in Europe. The author does not hesitate to compare this act to the persecution of the Templars carried out by Pope Clement V four centuries before. Clavijero imagines the severe judgement that posterity would endow to this inauspicious act; with great bitterness, revealing a bold character and severity of thought, he not only foresees the moral condemnation of the Pope considered to be guiltily weak and simoniacal but also reaffirms the merits of the Society of Jesus in their faith and works and particularly in their cultural activities.