Pius VII began mechanisms that eventuated in the universal approval of the existence of the Society in 1814. In 1801 however, the strong opposition towards the existence of the Society from Charles IV of Spain led Pope Pius VII to qualify his acceptance of the Society by limiting it to the Russian Empire. He expressed this on 7 March 1801, in the Papal brief Catholicae fidei, through which Franciszek Kareu was made 'Superior General for Russia'. After 1801, contact with ex-Jesuits increased, thanks to the efforts of his Assistant Gabriel Gruber, his future successor as 'Superior General for Russia'. In this period, the Rector of Stonyhurst (England) asked if the School might be allowed to affiliate itself with the Society in Russia. Negotiations also began for a union with the 'Paccanarist' priests. The Patriarch of Constantinople also asked for the Jesuits to serve in his area. During Kareu's vicariate of the Society in Russia, the universal restoration of the Society by the Catholic Church, became a distinct possibility. Death Ever since the beginning of 1801, Kareu had suffered from asthma. When he realised that his health had become a liability, he appointed an assistant, the Viennese, Gabriel Gruber who was himself later elected Vicar General. Kareu died in Polotsk on 11 August 1802. References Bibliography INGLOT, M., La Compagnia di Gesù nell'Impero Russo (1772–1820), Roma, 1997. ZALENSKI, S., Les Jésuites de la Russie Blanche, (2 vol.), Paris, 1886. ROUET de JOURNEL, M.J., La Compagnie de Jésus en Russie: un collège de Jésuites à Saint Pétersbourg (1800–16), Paris, 1922. 1731 births 1802 deaths People from Orsha 18th-century Lithuanian Jesuits