The Account of Conscience and the Right to Privacy in the Society of Jesus

Abstract

The papal bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae of Pope Paul III on 27 September 1540 gave the approval for the Society of Jesus. This approval was revised and confirmed by Pope Julius III with the papal bull Exposcit debitum on 21 July 1550. This document is known as the Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus and is the fundamental law of the Society. The document was elaborated in the Constitutions of the Society, which clarified the hierarchical structure of governance of the Society and the membership. The general congregation which is the supreme legislative body of the Society is comprised of professed members of four vows, and these members are the Society in essence. The Formula of the Institute placed the superior general at the helm of the Society, and he is assisted in the governance of the Society by other major superiors, whom he appoints to head structures known as provinces, regions, or conferences of major superiors. These major superiors have the central role of caring for the members and the apostolates. In order to do this, the major superiors receive the account of conscience from each member periodically. They are under the obligation to observe secrecy, whilst the members are obliged to be transparent without hiding anything. The dissertation analyzes the practice of the account of conscience in the Society and the protection of the right to privacy. Following the abuses of the account of conscience in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Church prohibited superiors of both clerical and lay institutes to mandate their members to manifest their consciences to them. The Church protects the privacy of the Christian faithful most prominently in c. 220 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Meanwhile, c. 630 §5 governs the exercise of manifestation of conscience, spiritual direction, confessors and the sacrament of confession in religious institutes. The Church acknowledges the spiritual benefits of the account of conscience and encourages members to freely approach their superiors for the manifestation of conscience and for the sacrament of reconciliation. The confidential nature of the account of conscience has raised the question whether the right to privacy of the members is protected, and what procedures are there to vindicate one’s rights if one feels his right to privacy has been violated.