In 1981, after Superior General Pedro Arrupe suffered a debilitating stroke, Pope John Paul II appointed Dezza to head the Jesuit order.
A brilliant scholar, he was named professor of philosophy at the Gregorian University, but had to spend several years in Switzerland because of health complications.
Pope John Paul II, recovering from his assassination attempt, unexpectedly intervened and appointed Dezza instead as a special pontifical delegate to serve as the Jesuits' interim leader.
[5] In 1999, the Pope celebrated the funeral mass at which he said: My venerable Predecessor Paul VI, during very difficult years for the Church and for the Society of Jesus, found in Fr.
Dezza the servant of Christ, the authentic Jesuit, the spiritual man on whose wise advice he could rely in the difficulties of his lofty mission.
To serve Christ in the person of his Vicar: St Ignatius' precept was the ideal which inspired the late Cardinal's whole life in his faithful, caring, intelligent and prudent, generous and impartial outlook.