Nowadays, "our world is the theatre of a battle between good and evil, and powerful negative forces are at work there", which mostly materialise in "cultural trends that often become prevalent, such as subjectivism, relativism, hedonism, practical materialism". It was said by the Pope, who, as he received in audience the Jesuits, commented that such "powerful negative forces" cause "dramatic situations of spiritual and material enslavement in our contemporaries". Hence his request to the Society of Jesus for a "renewed commitment to promoting and defending the Catholic doctrine" on some "crucial points that are now strongly attacked by the secular culture". Of these, Benedict XVI mentioned those of "the salvation of all men in Christ, sexual morality, marriage and the family", which "must be investigated and enlightened in the context of contemporary reality, while preserving that harmony with the magisterium which avoids confusion and bewilderment in God’s people". According to the Holy Father, then, one must "find again the fullest meaning" of the "fourth vow", which is typical of the Jesuits, i.e. obedience to the Successor of Peter, which "does not only involve being ready to be sent on a mission to some distant land, but also ‘loving and serving’ the Vicar of Christ on earth" as his "precious and irreplaceable assistants".
