REVIEW: The Dictator Pope

For those who may want to know what people have to say about "The Dictator Pope" -- A Review by Mr. Stuart Chessman (http://sthughofcluny.org/2018/01/the-dictator-pope.html).

 

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The Dictator Pope
By “Marcantonio Colonna”

The Dictator Pope hit our Kindles (it’s not yet in hard copy) just in time for Christmas. I can tell you, after a quick read, that it’s the best Vatican expose since 1999’s Gone with the Wind in the Vatican by “I Millenari” (indeed, some of the targets in the curia seem to be the same in both these works). But the focus of the Dictator Pope greatly differs from that work. It concentrates not so much on inside “revelations” but on the career, background and circumstances on one individual – namely, Pope Francis. It seeks to deepen our understanding of what is already known, to provide background and to “connect the dots” among people and policies.

The Dictator Pope is streamlined, succinct and well written. Here and there (such as in his discussion of the situation of the Knights of Malta) our author – “Marcantonio Colonna” – does seem to display specific knowledge beyond what has been published previously. Yet, as I noted, this book does not emphasize journalistic “leaks.” We indeed are told Pope Francis directed the contribution of funds to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. But does that supposed fact have any significance given what we already know about the media support, both direct and indirect, given to the Democratic Party by Francis – surely of incomparably greater value to Hillary than any money Francis could put on the table?

For several reasons the Dictator Pope strikes me as reliable. For one thing, Colonna’s description of Jorge Bergoglio’s style and modus operandi agrees very well with what I have been told by those with more direct knowledge than I possess of his doings in both Rome and Argentina. It also corresponds to certain reports that have appeared now and then in the European – never the English language – mainstream press. Curiously, some of these unflattering accounts are found in sources – like the German media – otherwise entirely aligned with Bergoglio.

Marcantonio Colonna shows the stuff of a true historian in creating a narrative of the Bergoglio years and offering his judgment on what he describes. Instead of nonsense about “God’s choice,” the colorful account of the Dictator Pope has the ring of truth: the relentless rise to the top of an ambitious and manipulative man, the making of strategic alliances and political concessions leading to the acquisition of the papacy and the imposition of the Pope’s personal agenda, the ruthless elimination of real or imaginary enemies, the advancement of unworthy and corrupt favorites. The Vatican as described in this work reminds us of the stories of the Renaissance papacy told in the great histories of Leopold von Ranke and Ludwig von Pastor. Indeed, Marcantonio Colonna himself draws comparisons between Pope Francis and certain ruthlessly ambitious, often megalomaniac and, in one or two cases, perhaps even insane popes of the 14th – 17th centuries, as so well described by his illustrious predecessors.

This portrait of Pope Francis outlined in the Dictator Pope, though, requires some qualification. For one thing, the popes of the past to whom Colonna compares Francis may have been lacking in one or more – or many – of the Christian virtues ( and often in sound judgment as well ) but they were strong characters who battled against and among other powerful rival families and factions within the Church and with the great secular kingdoms and principalities of their day. Francis only has to contend with the bureaucratic ninnies of the post – Vatican II Catholic hierarchy. Regarding today’s secular powers – like the news media – Francis pursues a policy of obsequious and abject submission. For, without exception, the policies of Francis are those of the Western secular establishment from whose support Francis derives all his power.

 

Furthermore, these notorious popes of the past showed rare taste in art and culture. I don’t know what the reign of Francis has to offer in comparison – a homoerotic nativity scene or one of Cardinal Ravasi’s exhibits? And whatever else they were doing, the popes of the Renaissance also devoted great personal attention to the liturgy – the celebration of the papal ceremonial was a major attraction of that period. Pope Francis either disregards the liturgy altogether or “repurposes” it for political statements.

I also must take issue with Colonna’s unduly restrictive characterization of significance of the papacy of Francis. For if Francis were simply one more unscrupulous, ambitious and opportunistic prelate – like Alexander VI – we could consider him simply a regrettable but ultimately remediable failure of the papal election process. But the added dimension of Francis’s papacy is his clear ideological commitment to Catholic progressivism. Whether that is simply a cynical means to the acquisition of power (as Colonna implies) or is a matter of personal conviction is irrelevant  – it is by now an unalterable aspect of his character.  Whatever the origin of his beliefs may be,  Pope Francis is a man with a mission to “unleash” and “make irreversible” the Vatican II – to make permanent what has been done since 1962-65  and to implement further radical changes in Catholic liturgy, morality and theology.  And the policies of Pope Francis are not a bolt from the blue, but the logical culmination of the disastrous trends in theology, morality, liturgy and government in the Catholic Church that have been allowed to develop and fester since 1962-65. 

 Pope Francis’s progressive agenda involves not just the completion of a revolution within the Church but the final, absolute subjection of the Church to the dominant secular powers of 21st century.

Marcantonio Colonna’s narrative helps us to see the current situation in the Church more clearly. And a clear view of what’s going on is always a major first step forward towards reform. The response of the Vatican to this book, we hear, is a search for the author’s identity. For the rest of us, Dictator Pope is a challenge: to reflect, to pray and to take action.

New Institute on Marriage & Family

The Germans --always those Germans-- are trying to change unchangeable Church Doctrine ... and we can be sure that they feel that their new "Martin Luther" opportunity will do the trick ... but it didn't work 500 years ago, and it will not work now.

For someone who claims to dislike authoritarianism and who wants to "decentralize" authority in the Church, the Holy Father's actions do not seem to comply with that "dislike" -- and this twenty-second (22nd) motu proprio (in only 4 years!) is good proof that His Holiness has not been as sincere in that as His Holiness would have us believe!

And now, these Germans, with the full support and consent of His Holiness, will go after Humanae Vitae -- arguably the only good and redeeming thing that Pope Paul VI achieved in his horrible pontificate! (In everything else --liturgical chaos, unending confusion, embarrassing ecumenical disasters, shameful scandals, etc., and, particularly, the appalling manner in which he dealt with the great Cardinal Mindszenty's heroic opposition to Communism--, Paul VI's pontificate was a complete disaster).

It's just as well; the faster things move, the better it will be in the end because this type of scandalous betrayal of Catholic Doctrine and Tradition can only go so far.

"... [W]ithin the sphere of the Truth of God, within the sphere of the unity and discipline of God’s Kingdom, there is no choice for the Catholic Church but mastery or martyrdom."

 

 

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http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-sets-up-new-john-paul-ii-institute-on-marriage-and-family

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(L’Osservatore Romano)

Blogs  |  Sep. 19, 2017

 

Pope Francis Sets Up New John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family

 

The new entity, issued by papal decree, replaces the previous institute founded by John Paul II in 1981. Its aim is to carry forward the teaching of Amoris Laetitia and make it irreversible.

Edward Pentin 

 

The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has established a new Pontifical John Paul II institute for “Marriage and Family Sciences” to replace the previous academic institution founded by John Paul in 1981.

 

In an apostolic letter Summa Familiae Cura issued motu proprio and published Sept. 19, the Vatican said the new entity — whose name will be the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences — is being established to carry forward the work of the two recent Synods of Bishops and the apostolic exhortation that came from those meetings, Amoris Laetitia.

 

The Pope notes the important work carried out by the original institute, called the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, which was founded in the wake of the 1980 Synod on the Family.

 

Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, who died Sept. 6, was the founding president of that Institute. As a signatory to the dubia given to Pope Francis exactly a year ago today, he had serious concerns about Amoris Laetitia, interpretations of which he found incompatible with John Paul II's teachings and the magisterium of the Church. 

 

But Pope Francis, who signed Summa Familiae Cura in Colombia just two days after Cardinal Caffarra’s passing, writes that the family synods of 2014 and 2015 have brought a renewed awareness of “the new pastoral challenges to which the Christian community is called to respond.”

Contemporary anthropological and cultural changes, the Pope continues, require “a diversified and analytical approach” which cannot be “limited to pastoral and missionary practices” of the past. Instead, he says, we must be able to interpret our faith in a context in which individuals are less supported than before as they deal with the complex realities of family life. Faithful to the teachings of Christ, the Pope continues, it is important to explore these “lights and shadows of family life” with realism, wisdom and love.

Like its predecessor, the new institute will continue to work as part of the Pontifical Lateran University. It will also be closely connected to the Holy See through the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pontifical Academy for Life and the new Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

The institute, which comes into effect immediately, will offer students courses leading to a diploma, a license and a doctorate in marriage and family sciences.

In an interview with Vatican Radio’s Italian edition, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the institute’s grand chancellor, said the “great insight” of John Paul II “asks to be enlarged and enriched,” adding that it “finds its realization” in the text of Amoris Laetitia.

“Pope Francis asks that the reality of families in their concreteness… can be protagonists of a renewal in the Church and in society,” Archbishop Paglia added.

He said he wished to “underline” this “anthropological aspect” which “has been instituted through a new Chair called Gaudium et Spes whose task is to investigate, propose, dialogue with all the human sciences, because the family today rediscovers its vocation not in the abstract.”

 

He said a “new reflection” is needed and that the new institute will study better and in a more robust fashion areas such as family history and family law. And he added it will be “essential” to enlarge the library and to “revisit” the other John Paul II institutes on marriage and the family on five continents, “because the two celebrated synods [on the family] do not remain a written text without the responsibility to deepen it theologically, scientifically and pastorally.”

 

Archbishop Paglia insists it will strengthen the theological aspects of the Institute by better underlining the biblical and dogmatic pastoral dimension. He also said the word "science" is used to denote a "much broader dialogue with the great challenges of the contemporary world, and a deepening of the anthropological perspective."

 

Informed sources say the emphasis on human sciences effectively means a greater focus on psychology, sociology, pedagogy, using the scientific method, medicine, and bioethics — in other words, putting more weight on what is quantifiable regarding the human person. The institute has always had a scientific approach and the juridical statutes of the Institute state that three goals of the method are: didactic, scientific and pastoral, but the concern is that greater emphasis on human sciences will come at the expense of theology and philosophy.

 

Undermining St. John Paul’s Teaching?

Today’s announcement comes after significant changes at the Institute, including the appointments last year of Archbishop Paglia as grand chancellor, and Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, as dean.

 

Both are known to support a much criticized interpretation of Amoris Laetitia which would allow some remarried divorcees to receive Holy Communion, as well as being supportive of a softening of the teaching of Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the Church’s ban on artificial contraception.

 

Scholars also within the John Paul II Institute itself have criticized both stances as diametrically opposed to the teachings of St. John Paul II.

 

Not surprisingly, the John Paul II Institute became a thorn in the side of those pushing for such changes, as became clear throughout the synods of the family when some of the Institute’s professors wrote numerous books resisting attempts by synod participants to allow remarried divorcees or those living in other irregular unions to receive Holy Communion (although the professors argued, in a book published earlier this year, that Amoris Laetitia could be read in continuity with the traditional teaching of the Church). 

 

These were in contrast to such attempts to weaken the Church’s teaching, such as the “shadow synod” of May 2015, partly organized by Msgr. Sequeri and attended by recently appointed members of the Pontifical Academy for Life headed by Archbishop Paglia.

 

The Institute’s publications, on the other hand, were widely seen as faithful interpretations of John Paul II’s teachings, drawing largely on his 1981 apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, and his 1993 encyclical on the Church’s moral teaching, Veritatis Splendor.

 

The dubia, five questions Cardinal Caffarra and three other cardinals sent to the Pope last year to clarify ambiguous passages of Amoris Laetitia, have also yet to be answered, pointing to unresolved problems with the apostolic exhortation.

 

This latest significant development is therefore being viewed in Rome as a further step to removing the obstacles presented by the teachings of St. John Paul II, paving the way for more changes. One of those may involve a reinterpretation of Humanae Vitae, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the document next year.  St. John Paul II’s magisterium has long been seen as the main bulwark against moves by dissenting theologians to weaken the teaching of the encyclical.

 

Concerns about today’s announcement are further heightened by reasons used to set up the new Institute: to interpret the faith in a context that takes into account “complex realities” and not “limited to pastoral and missionary practices” of the past. Such reasons closely resemble the controversial approaches used in interpreting Amoris Laetitia and which also are likely to be employed in any re-interpretation of Humanae Vitae.

 

But until the new statutes are published, it won’t be clear if there is a rupture with John Paul II’s teaching and the institute that preceded it, or if there is in fact continuity.

 

However, the signs of a break are there. The institute’s new leadership has already been trying to strengthen it by making the faculties grow and helping the institution to become more prestigious. That way it attracts professors and students of different perspectives, but it’s an approach which, while welcomed, is seen by some in the Institute as a further subtle attempt to undermine John Paul’s teaching by introducing disparate views, out of sync with his magisterium.

 

Meanwhile, the Register has learned via reliable sources that members of the German episcopate have recently grown frustrated with the pace of Francis’ reform and have been exerting pressure on the Pope to step up the pace — hence today’s motu proprio, and Magnum Principium, issued last week on liturgical translations. More importantly, they are said to be anxious that the reforms won’t be reversed by a future pope and so want them, as far as possible, set in stone, possibly by means of an Apostolic Constitution.

 

Pope Francis himself has said privately that he wants to be sure his reforms are irreversible, a view shared by one of his closest confidants. 

 

This article has been updated to include information on the previous institute's scientific approach.