Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit by Garry Wills (jacket cover)

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Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit

By Wills, Garry

 

Jacket cover

 

" 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 public uproar

over celibacy, potential clergy have proven unwilling to put

themselves in a position that supports dishonestteachings.

 

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 -- Saint Augustine, John HenryNewman, 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. "

 

Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit

By Wills, Garry