Since the publication of the Fiducia Supplicans statement on December 18, 2023, I have frequently read headlines and comments in which the word “schism” is mentioned. Similar rumors have been heard in the last fifty years, but everything has remained at the level of words. This time something is different. Some Church prelates, including cardinals and especially bishops, have reacted negatively.[1] Entire episcopal conferences have clearly stated that they will not implement the recommendations of the statement. However diplomatically they expressed their disagreement, it became clear that their attitude opposes the “inclusive” vision of Pope Francis and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Fernández. In other words, as Ross Douthat once said, “there really is a high-stakes division, at the highest levels of the church.”[2]
Following the replies and debates in the current context, I vividly recalled a lecture given by George Weigel over twenty years ago. I remember being deeply impressed by his attempt to explain the profound causes of the so-called “Pedophilia Crisis.” The key points of his interpretation seem to me today, in this crucial historical moment, more relevant than ever. Despite repeated attempts to find that recording, I was unsuccessful. However, recently, I was pleased to find on the catholicculture.org website a substantial excerpt from that lecture.[3] This allows me to present Weigel’s arguments here, applying them to the current situation.
After describing the terrible events of the pedophilia scandals involving priests in major Roman Catholic Archdioceses like Boston, Weigel showed that the substrate of these true networks of sin is linked to what he aptly called the “invisible schism.” This designation is truly memorable. The origins of the profound ruptures to which it refers, Weigel tells us, must be sought in that “culture of dissent” that grew exponentially, especially after the publication in 1968 of the encyclical Humanae Vitae signed by Pope Paul VI. Entire episcopal conferences, such as the Canadian one,[4] individual bishops, and numerous Catholic priests and theologians explicitly or implicitly rejected the Catholic teaching on the “intrinsically evil” nature of contraceptive practices. The names of dissidents like Charles Curran, Karl Rahner, and Bernard Häring are well-known. Here is how Weigel describes what resulted from this widespread dissent:
“It created within the Church an invisible schism and an invisible fracture in the Communion of the Church, first inside the minds, the hearts, and the souls of individuals and later in the institution of the Church itself.”
Naturally, we can ask how such a thing was possible. The author responds immediately:
“There is no reckoning with that invisible schism, that culture of dissent, that does not take account of what I call the "truths of 1968" when overt dissent by clergy, theologians, religious and even some Bishops from the authoritative teaching of Paul VI in the encyclical Humanae Vitae was allowed to prevail. It was allowed to prevail because some feared that a direct confrontation with dissent would create a schism in the Church, a fracture in the Church.”
Although Pope Paul VI and his encyclical were the targets of the dissidents mentioned by Weigel, the fear of a schism would have been what prevented him from taking action. We can wonder why Saint Thomas More did not fear such a thing, or his contemporary directly affected by the abominable measures of Henry VIII, Pope Paul III, who excommunicated the dissident king in December 1538. Different times, different popes.
The German Protestant Reformation 2.0 is happening before our eyes. But the scope of the current situation surpasses anything ever seen in the entire history of the Church.
Certainly, after the substantial rejection of the Humanae Vitae encyclical, no anathemas or excommunications were pronounced. In practice, many heretics, some at the highest levels of the Church hierarchy, were left undisturbed to spread their ideas, waiting for the moment to seize power. But this would not have been possible without a new pastoral “style” making such a state of affairs possible. The origin of this pontifical style, which almost always turns a blind eye to heresy and dissent, can be found in the word with which Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962:
“The Church has always opposed these errors. Frequently she has condemned them with the greatest severity. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations.”[5]
If, at the time, the indulgent attitude proposed by John XXIII seemed wise and full of promises, today we see that the fruits of such a strategy – invoking mercy while minimizing justice and its application – are corrupt. Can a malignant tumor be removed without incisions, without painful surgeries? Can all heretics be converted to the orthodox faith through polite explanations? And can the obstinate be removed without excommunications? Just asking.
Following the same “pastoral” style, which never directly attacked major dissidents but sometimes gave them Cardinal hats, we understand why Paul VI did nothing to punish those guilty of rejecting the Church’s teachings on contraception. Unfortunately, other pontiffs perpetuated the same style. And the number of scandals – especially those related to sexual vices and finances – continued to grow, while indulgence toward obstinate unrepentant sinners became institutionalized, even leading in recent years to the production of “official” magisterial documents.
Such an absolutely disturbing reality is the result of what George Weigel called the “invisible schism.” And this schism is, above all, the result of the ongoing conflict between the Gospel and the profane and profaning culture of the modern world, where sexuality does not involve the responsibility spoken of by Pope John Paul II but is merely a preferred form of entertainment.
Subjected to constant pressures from the mass media and consumer culture, many baptized Christians fail to consistently practice what the Church Fathers called fuga de contemptu mundi, primarily at an inner level of their spiritual lives. In fact, most of them no longer even know what this means. The consequence is that they become “fractured” individuals who, despite appearances, do not belong to the Church and its symbolic, spiritual universe but to the “world” denounced with such firmness by Saint Evangelist John. Referring specifically to the clergy’s situation, Weigel revealed this situation in dark tones:
“Well, we did not have a public fracture in the Church, but we did have an invisible schism, an invisible fracture in which, for example, in seminaries over some twenty years, men learned to live essentially double lives.”
I do not believe that it is necessary to hear more. Those interested can read Weigel’s conference text or his entire book, The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and The Future Of The Church (2004). Here I retain the truth stated by him, a truth regarding the perpetuation and even encouragement – even if only through inaction – of a dissidence that has produced a massive number of Catholics leading a double life.
We feel like the ground is slipping from beneath our feet. The invisible schism has suddenly become visible. Almost miraculously, what was once hidden and only occasionally perceived is now being gradually but quickly revealed.
Now, after the publication of the controversial Fiducia Supplicans declaration, the “invisible schism” has started to emerge. The reactions of some bishops and even entire Episcopal conferences are the visible signs of this unprecedented event in the history of the Church. Things are no longer just visible; they have become strident. It is clear to all of us that a deep abyss has opened up between the bishops’ conference in Germany and the African or Polish Episcopal conferences. To emphasize the gravity of the situation, Weigel has stated unequivocally that in the case of the Catholic Church in Germany, it is no longer a schism but apostasy:
“German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism. That is an inadequate description of the German crisis. The German Catholicism manifest in the documents of the Synodal Path is in apostasy.”[6]
Weigel is not mincing his words. On my part, I dare to say that the German Protestant Reformation 2.0 is happening before our eyes. But the scope of the current situation surpasses anything ever seen in the entire history of the Church. We feel like the ground is slipping from beneath our feet. The invisible schism has suddenly become visible. Almost miraculously, what was once hidden and only occasionally perceived is now being gradually but quickly revealed.
The “revelation” of the state of affairs, already identified by George Weigel over twenty years ago, is now laid bare. And in conclusion, if I remind you that the Greek word translated as “revelation, disclosure of what is hidden” is apokálupsis, I am merely suggesting the direction in which our present and future reflections should go. By proclaiming in 2012 an unparalleled prophetess, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, an official Doctor of the Church, I think that Pope Benedict XVI also showed us who can be our guide.
[1] See, for instance, this: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2023/12/23/fiducia-supplicans-appears-to-have-failed-spectacularly/ [Accessed: 04 February 2024], this: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/18081/joy-and-alarm-in-bishops-responses-to-fiducia-supplicans [Accessed: 04 February 2024], and this: https://www.catholicarena.com/latest/2024/1/2/a9l164820d2tvymsjdjjx1ah13tlei [Accessed: 04 February 2024].
[2] Douthat’s words are significant, as they refer to an issue also addressed by Fiducia Supplicans, namely the permission to receive communion for divorced and remarried Catholics: Ross Douthat, “Letter to the Catholic Academy”: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/opinion/sunday/letter-to-the-catholic-academy.html?_r=1 [Accessed: 04 February 2024]
[3] George Weigel, “The Courage to be Catholic”: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=5235 [Accessed: 02 February 2024] All the quotes from Weigel’s conference are taken from here.
[4] On September 27, 1968, the Canadian episcopal conference published the infamous Winnipeg Statement in which its signatories visibly departed from Christian teaching presented in Humane Vitae.
[5] There is no English translation of this pontifical address on the Vatican’s official website. That’s why I took the quote from here: https://vatican2voice.org/91docs/opening_speech.htm [Accessed: 02 February 2024]
[6] This categorical statement was made in a text entitled “The German Crisis, the World Church, and Pope Francis” published in First Things: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/12/the-german-crisis-the-world-church-and-pope-francis [Accessed: 02 February 2024]