I am musing about something.
Usually the singing of the solemn Te Deum at the end of the year on 31 December was executed at the great Jesuit church the Gesù, in the centro.
The Pope would go to the Gesù for this.
This year the Pope stayed at St. Peter’s.
The Jesuits begin their 35th General Congregation in the coming week.
They will have to replace Fr. Hans P. Kolvenbach, 80, who received permission from the Pope to resign.
The general of the Jesuits is elected for life, unless the Pope dispenses him, as John Paul II did Arupe.
The election of the new general, which I believe will take place in March, is preceded by four days of information gathering, known as the murmuratio. when delegates discuss candidates among themselves.
This year, the Pope did not go to the Gesù.
I suspect this has less to do with Benedict’s view of the Jesuits than it does with his desire to showcase Vespers and the Te Deum, with a new liturgical style, for the whole world.
