1759–1773

The Expulsion and Suppression of the Jesuit Order

In 1758 the Jesuits were accused of a plot against the Portuguese king Joseph I. The order was then expelled from Portugal in 1759, banned in France in 1764, and expelled from Spain in 1767.

The Bourbon monarchs distrusted the Jesuits as supporters of the Habsburgs and jointly demanded that the pope suppress the order. In 1773 Clement XIV dissolved the Society of Jesus "forever" by the bull Dominus ac redemptor noster. This deprived the papacy of one of its chief instruments of influence. The order was restored in 1814.