The Reality of Pope John Paul 2
Christopher Hitchens is saying what many of us are thinking:
A church that has allowed no latitude in its teachings on masturbation, premarital sex, birth control, and divorce suddenly asks for understanding and “wiggle room” for the most revolting crime on the books.
Pope John Paul 2 is dead, and while I respect him for many things that he accomplished my opinion of him will always be colored by his most glaring failure:
To uncover, punish and stamp out pedophilia from the ranks of the priesthood.
Growing up Catholic I had always heard whispers amongst my peers about this priest or that one. I didn’t understand the gravity of these rumors until I became an adult and saw the wrecked lives these “men of Christ” left in their wake.
Instead of destroying this culture of pedophilia, Pope John Paul 2 continued to cover it up. No finer example of this cover up is protecting Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston by helping him flee possible persecution in the scandal that has bankrupted the Boston archdiocese. This is a sin which the pontiff carries with him to the afterlife - should it exist.
Pope John Paul 2 leaves behind a church whose credibility has been seriously weakened in Western Europe and the United States, and one which his successor must grapple with. He may have been a man of principle, but this scandal leaves me wondering what principles he was a man of.
April 4th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/04/05/do0501.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/04/05/ixportal.html
See this from the Telegraph by Mark Steyn.
Though obviously I agree with you over the paedophilia, it’s a puzzle.
April 5th, 2005 at 7:51 am
Ligneus
The Telegraph article points out precisely why I like JP2. I like his fundamentally unchanging moral principles.
What I have a hard time with is his refusal to stamp out pedophilia within the church, and worse, allow the cover up to continue.