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Papal Sin
Structures of Deceit
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by Garry Wills
Bantam Doubleday Dell
Due/Published
September 2001, 336 pages,
paper
ISBN
0385494114
Papal sin in the past was blatant, as Catholics themselves realized when they painted popes roasting in hell on their own church walls. Surely, the great abuses of the past -- the nepotism, murders, and wars of conquest -- no longer prevail; yet, the sin of the modern papacy, as revealed by Garry Wills in his penetrating new book, is every bit as real, though less obvious than the old sins. Wills describes a papacy that seems steadfastly unwilling to face the truth about itself, its past, and its relations with others. The refusal of the authorities of the Church to be honest about its teachings has needlessly exacerbated original mistakes. Even when the Vatican has tried to tell the truth -- e.g., about Catholics and the Holocaust -- it has ended up resorting to historical distortions and evasions. The same is true when the papacy has attempted to deal with its record of discrimination against women, or with its unbelievable assertion that "natural law" dictates its sexual code. Though the blithe disregard of some Catholics for papal directives has occasionally been attributed to mere hedonism or willfulness, it actually reflects a failure, after long trying on their part, to find a credible level of honesty in the official positions adopted by modern popes. On many issues outside the realm of revealed doctrine, the papacy has made itself unbelievable even to the well-disposed laity. The resulting distrust is in fact a neglected reason for the shortage of priests. Entirely aside from the public uproar over celibacy, potential clergy have proven unwilling to put themselves in a position that supports dishonest teachings. Wills traces the rise of the papacy's stubborn resistance to the truth, beginning with the challenges posed in the nineteenth century by science, democracy, scriptural scholarship, and rigorous history. The legacy of that resistance, despite the brief flare of John XXIII's papacy and some good initiatives in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council (later baffled), is still strong in the Vatican. Finally Wills reminds the reader of the positive potential of the Church by turning to some great truth tellers of the Catholic tradition -- St. Augustine, John Henry Newman, John Acton, and John XXIII. In them, Wills shows that the righteous path can still be taken, if only the Vatican will muster the courage to speak even embarrassing truths in the name of Truth itself. |
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Review
“It [current Church doctrine] plays with the truth while using the name of Jesus, who said he is the truth. It cheapens the gospel. It makes truth look to falsehoods for support. It is the form of deception that Saint Augustine considered most sinful.” -- Garry Wills on the Papacy’s distortion of church teachings and history Why has it become so difficult for the Church to find individuals willing to enter or remain in the Priesthood? The requirement for celibacy, particularly in light of the recent sex scandals, is most frequently mentioned as the main deterrent toward pursuing a life in the priesthood. However, Garry Wills argues that more than anything, it is current Church doctrine on such matters as contraception, abortion, women in the priesthood that drives away devoted Catholics. Many interested Catholics including active priests have a hard time backing up Rome when they see the ways in which Church authorities have twisted and convoluted scripture and ecclesiastical history. Wills writes, “The arguments for much of what passes as current church doctrine are so intellectually contemptible that mere self-respect forbids a man to voice them as his own.” Thus, the Papal sins Wills refers to are not those of personal greed and debauchery that checkered the past but of repeated deceptions to distort past church teachings and to defend the decisions of past Popes. At times, these evasions have undermined the integrity and believability of the church as in the case of the Vatican’s silence during the Holocaust. Wills expertly analyzes past historical and doctrinal dishonesties of the Church and suggests that by looking towards such figures as Saint Augustine, Cardinal Newman, Lord Acton, and Pope John XXIII, the Church can reinvigorate its committment to truth.
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