In his biography of Dom Hélder Câmara (Brazilian Catholic bishop, 1909-1999, whose file for beatification is currently open in Rome), Ivanir Antonio RAMPON quotes this anecdote: “Once, Pope John [Jean XXIII] appeared to him [en rêve à Dom Helder]dressed as a peasant like his poor brothers who worked in the village of his birth. He then dictated a letter to be addressed to the future general of the Society of Jesus (it would be Father Arrupe) to make three requests that he worked for the reconciliation of the Society with the Protestants, asking their forgiveness for the excesses of the Counter-Reformation that he reformulates the vows in terms of adult Christianity that it seeks to deepen the thought of Teilhard de Chardin. The letter arrived at Father Arrupe.” (Ivanir Antonio RAMPON, Dom Helder Camara. The spiritual path of a prophet, translation by José de BROUCKER, Paris, Salvator, 2020, 288 pages, 20 €, pp.100-101)
And we know the rest…
Pedro Arrupe was General of the Society of Jesus between 1965 and 1983. He had at heart to introduce the spirit and the reforms requested by the Second Vatican Council, which was often called “Teilhardian”.
During the colloquium organized at the Centre Sèvres, on June 13 1981, for the centenary of the birth of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, he addressed a letter to Henri Madelin s.j. then provincial of the French Jesuits, charged with the inauguration of the commemorative plaque affixed at 15, rue Monsieur, the place where Teilhard resided during his visits to Paris. One can be sure by reading this letter that Pedro Arrupe has well followed “the request of Dom Hélder Câmara”… Read the letter of Pedro Arrupe s.j. addressed to Henri Madelin s.j. (Teilhard de Chardin. Its contribution, its actuality. Colloque du Centre Sèvres 1981, Paris, Le Centurion, 1982, pp. 175-179. It was also published under the title “Pourquoi le Père Teilhard m’est cher” in: Pedro ARRUPE, Écrits pour évangéliser, Présentés par Jean-Yves CALVEZ, Coll. Christus, n° 59, Paris, Desclée de Brouwer, 1985, pp. 211-214).