{"id":402,"date":"2011-01-21T08:24:49","date_gmt":"2011-01-21T14:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/?p=402"},"modified":"2011-01-21T16:19:34","modified_gmt":"2011-01-21T22:19:34","slug":"john-paul-and-the-church-of-public-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/john-paul-and-the-church-of-public-relations-402.htm","title":{"rendered":"John Paul and the Church of Celebrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sardath said in the comments:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This is a man who survived the Nazi genocide against the Poles, out-maneuvered the Soviets, and utterly crushed liberation theology; and yet we are to believe that he had no idea what he was doing when he signed false bank documents, had no idea that bishops and priests in Latin American were giving aid and comfort to state terrorism, and had no idea what Law, Groer, and Maciel had been up to all those years?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201csanto subito\u201d people can\u2019t have it both ways. If JP2 really was the intellectual and spiritual titan that he pretended to be, then he must have had the capacity to know and understand what his own people were up to. If he knew and did nothing, he was an accomplice in their crimes; if he could have known but chose not to, then he was criminally negligent, which is almost as bad. Either way, they have no business putting him up for sainthood, because he doesn\u2019t even remotely qualify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a big problem with some of the theological positions that Ratzinger staked out on these issues while he was head of the CDF, including the claim that while the pope may not be infallible in his disciplinary decisions, those decisions are nevertheless \u201cnot without divine assistance\u201d and therefore \u201ccall for the adherence of the faithful.\u201d So if JP2 was not without divine assistance in the way he ran his shop, why has everything come to ruin? What sort of saint is it who holds the position of \u201cVicar of Christ on earth\u201d but somehow consistently fails to avail himself of the divine assistance which, we are assured, was always available to him if he only asked for it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And now Ratzinger is pope himself, and so is also presumably not without divine assistance in the decisions he makes\u2013and yet he is not only rushing headlong toward a disastrous premature canonization of his predecessor, but has continued to surround himself with the same people who, we are now being told, wrecked the papacy of JP2 with their lies and corruption. We have been told that it was Ratzinger who tried and tried to clean up the corruption around JP2, but was checkmated at every turn by the evil Sodano. So what is his excuse now? He of all people must know what Sodano and the others were up to, and he of all people has the power to send them packing. Why has he not done so?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

John Paul\u2019s refusal to act was inexplicable. Benedict\u2019s is explicable but discouraging.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am of course an outside observer, but even Cardinal Sch\u00f6nborn, who pleaded with John Paul to make a statement about Gro\u00ebr and to stem the resignations for the Austrian Church, was baffled by John Paul\u2019s refusal even to say anything.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I repeat. Cardinal Sch\u00f6nborn read my book Sacrilege<\/em>, and he said that in the case which he was familiar, that of his predecessor Cardinal Gro\u00ebr, things were worse than I knew. Gro\u00ebr had made strongly homoerotic gestures to almost every student he had come into contact with over the years; Gro\u00ebr stopped short of penetration, but that was the only thing he didn\u2019t do.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

John Paul had appointed Gro\u00ebr archbishop of Vienna over the objections of the Austrian episcopate, because Gro\u00ebr preached Fatima. Even after Gro\u00ebr left Vienna and the scandal was in full bloom, John Paul continued to favor him. Sch\u00f6nborn was in Rome for the consistory in which he was made a Cardinal. Without telling Sch\u00f6nborn, John Paul had invited Gro\u00ebr to Rome and was receiving him socially. When Sch\u00f6nborn was informed of this at a news conference, he uttered some undiplomatic words about the situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Almost the entire Austrian episcopate, including Sch\u00f6nborn, the writer of the Catechism<\/em>, publicly announced they were sure Gro\u00ebr was guilty. The numerous victims said Gro\u00ebr was guilty. Why didn\u2019t John Paul believe them or at least order a thorough investigation. John Paul not only did not order an investigation of Maciel; he allowed Sodano to thwart Ratzinger\u2019s attempt to get at the truth.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Benedict apparently has decided that ridding the Church of abusers is enough; he thinks he does not have to change the culture among the hierarchy that allowed the abuse to go on.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But once Benedict is gone, a new pope may not have the same priorities. He may think that sexual abuse is a minor problem compared to poverty, the conflict with Islam, secularization, and the other difficulties Christianity faces. The bishops can then return to (or continue in) their old ways in countries that do not have the vigorous tort system that the United States has.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

John Paul thought the Church could flourish with PR \u2013 and Benedict, by canonizing him, is continuing the policy. Cleaning the Augean stables of the corrupt clergy would be painful, and many of the laity would oppose it, but a church that cultivates only the appearance of holiness without the reality is preparing itself for a crisis as big as the Reformation. Or even worse, no Reformation. Just corrupt and lax mediocrity that narcissistically calls itself holiness. If men turn away from Christianity because it is too austere and other-worldly, it is one thing; but if they turn away because it falls beneath the standards of common decency and honesty, that is another.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sardath said in the comments:\u00a0 This is a man who survived the Nazi genocide against the Poles, out-maneuvered the Soviets, and utterly crushed liberation theology; and yet we are to believe that he had no idea what he was doing when he signed false bank documents, had no idea that bishops and priests in Latin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,201,385],"tags":[41,457,458,1120],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clergy-sex-abuse","category-pope-benedict","category-pope-john-paul","tag-john-paul-ii","tag-pope-bnedict","tag-public-relations","tag-sexual-abuse","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}