Clement XIV

Clement XIV issued the brief Dominus ac Redemptor at Rome on 21 July 1773, in the fifth year of his pontificate (Clement XIV, Dominus ac Redemptor, closing line, ‘Given at Rome’). In it he says that the kings of France, Spain, Portugal and the Two Sicilies had asked his predecessor Clement XIII to suppress the Society of Jesus, and that their petitions came to him as soon as he was elected (Clement XIV, Dominus ac Redemptor, para. beginning ‘Our aforementioned dearest sons’). He writes that he took time to inquire and to pray before deciding (Clement XIV, Dominus ac Redemptor, para. beginning ‘In order to form the safest plan’), and that he abolished the Society by his apostolic power for the sake of the peace of the Church (Clement XIV, Dominus ac Redemptor, para. beginning ‘We have used many’). See the Suppression of the Jesuits.