Agencies/Jesuits: Difference between revisions

* Michael C. McFarland (1948-). An American Jesuit, McFarland is also a computer scientist and the former president of the College of the Holy Cross. In the 1990s, McFarland published technical articles on digital systems, and also wrote about the ethical issues associated computer technology, anticipating the ongoing concerns about this subject in the twenty-first century.

=== Jesuits and the Catholic cult===

The Society of Jesus was officially recognized by the Catholic Church in 1540, when Pope Paul III granted approval to the order in a papal bull.

====Inquisition====

The Roman Inquisition, an agency established in 1542, was designed chiefly to combat Protestantism, which was conceived and defined as heresy in Catholic territories. It was more successful in controlling doctrine and practice than similar inquisitions in those countries where Protestant princes had more power than the Roman Catholic Church. '''Political and military involvement directed against Protestant''' growth is most clearly reflected in the policies of Emperor Charles V and in those of his son Philip II, who was associated with the infamously '''brutal''' Spanish Inquisition. The intermingling of religion and politics led some princes and states to withdraw their protection of Protestants and other "heretics" and court the favor of the Holy See by surrendering distinguished offenders. Philip II of Spain, for example, surrendered Bartolomé de Carranza, the Spanish theologian and former confessor to Queen Mary of England, and Cosimo de Medici in 1567 gave up Pietro Carnesecchi, the Florentine heretic. In addition to combating Protestantism, all inquisitions also had the power to supervise and discipline the moral failings of both clergy and laity, and they were thus also useful in the implementation of the reforms of the Council of Trent.