Pope to Jesuits

The Pope met the members of the General Congregation of the Jesuits this morning. I look forward to reading the English translation of this fairly strong address:

So e capisco bene che questo è un punto particolarmente sensibile e impegnativo per voi e per diversi dei vostri confratelli, soprattutto quelli impegnati nella ricerca teologica, nel dialogo interreligioso e nel dialogo con le culture contemporanee. Proprio per questo vi ho invitato e vi invito anche oggi a riflettere per ritrovare il senso più pieno di quel vostro caratteristico "quarto voto" di obbedienza al Successore di Pietro, che non comporta solo la prontezza ad essere inviati in missione in terre lontane, ma anche – nel più genuino spirito ignaziano del "sentire con la Chiesa e nella Chiesa" – ad "amare e servire" il Vicario di Cristo in terra con quella devozione "effettiva ed affettiva" che deve fare di voi dei suoi preziosi e insostituibili collaboratori nel suo servizio per la Chiesa universale.

I know and I understand well that this [the call to defend Catholic doctrine in difficult areas] is a particularly sensitive and demanding point for you and for some of your confreres, above all those charged with theological research, interreligious dialogue and dialogue with contemporary culture. Precisely because of this I have invited and again I invite you today to reflection in order to rediscover the fullest sense of your characteristic "fourth vow" of obedience to the Successor of Peter, which does not only involve readiness to be sent on mission to far-off lands, but also in the most genuine Ignatian sense of "thinking with the Church and within the Church", to "love and serve" the Vicar of Christ on earth and with that "effective and affective" devotion which should make you his most precious and irreplaceable collaborators in his service for the universal Church.

It should be noted that I've heard some minimalistic readings of the 'Fourth Vow' in suggesting that it merely meant that one should be obedient to the Pope in terms of where one was sent on mission. Pope Benedict, and the true Ignatian tradition, takes it more seriously than that.