The Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, to give the proper name, has been a controversial part of the Catholic Church since its inception, both to those inside and those on the outside. At one point, one Pope sought to suppress it entirely, but it survived, oddly enough, in the Tsarist Russia of Catherine the Great. And now it is more in the news than ever, since the election of the first Jesuit pope - Pope Francis. What does the Society stand for, and why has it proved so controversial? In this, the first popular history of the Jesuits, Jesuit expert Michael J Walsh explores the order, the largest in the Catholic church, and considers its achievements, its detractors, its high and low points, its involvement with Liberation Theology and the conflict which resulted, and its situation now