Interesting Cicero. Any ideas on who is replacing the Jesuits?
As far as I can see, no one at the moment. The Jesuits were especially fearful of Opus Dei, and did everything they could to undermine them. But if that happens, it will evidently take more time. The Jesuits have done many things in the past, but in recent times their specialty has been higher education. Opus Dei is doing a lot toward counselling Catholic College Students, and have a university in Spain, but nothing like Jesuit colleges, which I’m afraid are on the way to secularization like former Protestant colleges.
One thing that has often happened in the past is the appearance of a reformed order based on the founding principles of a decaying order. But sometimes a new order appears, as seems to be the case with Mother Teresa of Calcutta.