Indian Jesuits feel pope will bring about change: Pope Francis is the first one from the community to be elected to head the Vatican.

Chennai:  The Indian Jesuits feel that the election of the new pope from the order signals that the Catholic Church wants to reach out to the people, especially the poor and the marginalized.

“I believe that electing a Jesuit pope may be the Catholic Church's way of sending out a message that they are going to get down to the basics and reach out to people since the number of people attending Mass are on the decline world over, said Father B Jeyaraj, principal of Loyola College in Chennai.

Pope Francis is the first one from the community to be elected to head the Vatican.

"Jesuits are known for their life of simplicity. So we need to see if Pope Francis keeps with the image of the Jesuits," said Fr. Joseph Antony Samy, vice principal of the college, and director of archives of the Jesuit Madurai Province.

Considering the new pope's much publicized use of public transport and the fact that his first order of business after becoming pope was to pay his hotel bill, it seems like he intends to keep up the image of the community.

Members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) have never really been in the running for the papacy despite being the largest religious order within the Catholic Church.

"Across the world, the number of Jesuits is reducing, except in India where the numbers are steady," said Jesuit priest Father A J Thamburaj.

He said that the number of Jesuits in Europe is declining because of the proliferation of welfare states.

There is no motivation to help the poor, unlike in India. The largest clusters of Jesuits are in the developing and under-developed countries," he said.

Archbishop emeritus A M Chinnappa of Madras-Mylapore said Indian Jesuits have been working against oppression.

"We have been fighting for dalits, women and youth. We hope the new pope brings in a new order, literally," he said.

The order was founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 and is present in 112 countries. Jesuits are known for their work in education and poverty.

As of 2011, there were 17,906 Jesuits worldwide, with India accounting for 3,500 of them.

Source: Times of India