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Posted on 07/14/2003 11:56:28 AM PDT by presidio9
It is almost impossible to know what really goes on behind the scenes at a place as secretive as the Vatican. Running the worldwide Catholic Church, with its more than 1 billion members, is obviously an enormous undertaking, and the important decisions are made by a few powerful clerics, headed, of course, by Pope John Paul. But the pontiff is 83 years old and not in good health. For Americans concerned about the declining image of the church in this country, the question of the Pope's competency is crucial. With that in mind, I recently traveled to Vatican City and sat in the third row at John Paul's weekly audience. I watched him closely for 90 minutes and can tell you that although he can no longer walk, he was mentally alert. His eyes were clear, and his voice retained some power. But it was apparent that the Pope's endurance is limited.
Few get to question the Pope, and I have just one query for him: Why have you not acted more aggressively in combating the priest-sexual abuse scandal in America, a country that provides about half your financing? Although the Pope is beyond my reach, I was able to put that question to a number of Vatican insiders and have come up with what I believe is a cogent answer.
Pope John Paul was furious when told that the scandals in the Boston Archdiocese had reached a flash point. According to someone in the room with him when he received the news that Bernard Cardinal Law was to be deposed, he slammed his hand on his desk and yelled at his assistants: "You told me this situation would be taken care of the right way!" The Pope was visibly angry and shortly afterward retreated into prayer.
And that is what the Pope mostly does these days: pray. He delegates almost all other duties to a variety of underlings, none of whom has the power or insight to deal with a scandal as withering as this priest-sex abuse thing.
According to four sources who often deal with the Vatican, the bureaucracy at St. Peter's is so thick and entrenched that quick action on anything is impossible. With the person in charge, John Paul, spending most of his time on spiritual reflection, there is simply no one in the Vatican hierarchy in place to help the tottering American church.
This is tragic, because for two centuries the Catholic Church in the U.S. has been a powerful moral voice. It champions the poor, promotes respect for life and generally acts as counterweight to the secular philosophy that challenges judgments about personal behavior.
In America today, there is an increasing tolerance for all kinds of actions that the country once deemed immoral. For example, some people now consider heroin dealing to be a nonviolent crime. Partial-birth abortion is embraced by a variety of groups. Drug legalizers have hired lobbyists in Washington, as have homosexuals who want gay marriage sanctioned.
Nearly anything goes in a secular society, and a quick trip to Europe will prove that. In Amsterdam, you can see neighborhoods devoted to legalized prostitution and drug buying. You can watch drug addicts shoot up in the train station. Great for the kids, right?
The Catholic Church at one time could authoritatively speak out against that kind of degeneracy. The church believes that your body is to be respected, along with the bodies and souls of your neighbors. Anything that diminishes the human (or fetal) condition is questioned and sometimes condemned.
But that moral authority is now diminished. Thanks to a few corrupt Catholic clergy and a paralyzed leadership in Rome, a reasonable, collective voice that promotes humanistic conduct has been put on the defensive and, in certain quarters, is even dismissed as irrelevant.
I believe Pope John Paul is a good man - a person of dignity and compassion. But he has lost control of a situation that is causing societal damage far beyond the confines of the Catholic Church. We should all dearly hope that the Pope's prayers are answered. For the American Catholic Church right now, the only solution on the horizon is divine intervention.
Why? His job is to promote salvation throught Jesus Christ, not create paradise on earth. Jesus said, "I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword."
If there ever were a clear, unambiguous example of such a war, I would hope that the Holy Father would support it.
Then why did he basically state in a public fashion his opinions on the War in Iraq? And why did it sound so suspiciously Hollywood? Why didn't he speak out on the horrors of mass murder, and on the absurdity of totalitarian rule?
Perhaps he favors the praise of man more than the praise of God. John the Baptist favored the praise of God. Blessed are those who suffer for righteousness sake.
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I thought I knew what media bias was until I became Catholic. I'm tempted to say that when journalists report something about the Pope, they're infallibly wrong. I never put credence in any of the Holy Father's alleged statements until I read them myself at zenit.com, vatican.va or some other reliable source.
Then again, O'Reilly might prefer the velvet glove to the hammer, given his vacillation on the subject [quoted in the July 14 Federalist]:
"The only heat I take on the gay stuff is from very, very religious people. Ninety percent of Americans don't care what [homosexuals] do.... Ten percent are fanatics. They think they're going to hell, and they want you to go to hell.... There are millions of Americans who are never going to accept [homosexuals], primarily on religious grounds.... You're never going to convince the holy rollers that you're not an abomination, because they're going to quote the Old Testament." --Bill O'Reilly on "gay marriage" in an interview for the homosexual advocacy magazine, The Advocate [Federalist editors' comment:**Who said O'Reilly, who claims to be Catholic, can't dance on one foot -- his LEFT!]
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