Analyst Dissects Vatican WikiLeaks Fallout

This article comes from the National Catholic Reporter.

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Sex abuse crisis, Vatican PR woes figure in WikiLeaks scoops

By John L. Allen, Jr.

Secret diplomatic cables revealed this morning as part of the WikiLeaks releases confirm that while the Vatican was appalled by revelations of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland in 2009 and 2010, it was also offended by demands that the papal ambassador participate in a government-sponsored probe, seeing it as an insult to the Vatican’s sovereign immunity under international law.

 

That stance, according to the cable, came off in Ireland as “pettily procedural” while failing to confront the reality of clerical abuse, and thereby made the crisis worse.

The cables also contain critical diplomatic assessments of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to create new structures to welcome disgruntled Anglicans, as well as the perceived technological illiteracy and communications ineptitude of some senior Vatican officials.

PR woes in the Vatican, according to one cable, have lowered the volume on the pope’s “moral megaphone.”

Newly disclosed cables also indicate that:

• The Vatican has expressed desire to resist the influence of Venezuelan Socialist strongman Hugo Chavez across Latin America;

• It agreed to quietly encourage countries to support the Copenhagen accord on climate change, even though the Holy See does not officially take positions on draft agreements;

• It hoped that Poland would act as a bulwark against radical secularism within the European Union, especially by “holding the line” on life and family issues;

• Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger opposed Turkey’s entry into the European Union, but as pope, Benedict XVI has taken an official neutral stance, while continuing to emphasize the importance of Europe’s Christian roots.

While the cables unveiled this morning don’t really contain any surprises about the Vatican itself, they do lift the veil on how American diplomats and their colleagues have viewed various moves by Rome in recent years.

The revelations come mostly in cables from the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See back to the State Department in Washington, often expressing information gleaned from conversations either with church sources or with other diplomats in Rome.

The cables were unveiled in the Dec. 11 issue of the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper.

One 2009 cable, titled “Sex abuse scandal strains Irish-Vatican relations, shakes up Irish church, and poses challenges for the Holy See,” reports on a conversation between Julieta Valls Noyes, the number two official at the U.S. embassy to the Vatican, and her counterparts in the Irish embassy to the Holy See.

Noyes writes that while the Vatican’s first concern was for the victims of abuse, it also felt that requests for its ambassador in Ireland to cooperate with the “Murphy Commission” probe threatened its sovereignty under international law.

The cable reports that the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, ultimately wrote to the Irish Embassy to the Holy See to insist that any requests for information should come through proper diplomatic channels.

That stance, Noyes wrote, produced backlash in Ireland: “Much of the Irish public views the Vatican protests as pettily procedural and failing to confront the real issue of horrific abuse and cover-up by Church officials,” she wrote.

As the Irish situation developed in late 2009 and early 2010, Noyes went on to say, “the normally cautious Vatican moved with uncharacteristic speed to address the internal church crisis,” pointing to a meeting between Pope Benedict and Irish bishops in February 2010, but she also says that contacts both in Ireland and the Vatican expect the crisis “to be protracted over several years.”

In another 2009 cable, Noyes describes a conversation with Francis Campbell, the ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Holy See, about the pope’s decision to create new structures, called “personal ordinariates,” to welcome traditionalist Anglicans upset with liberalizing moves such as the ordination of women and openly gay bishops, and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The move put the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in an “impossible situation,” according to Campbell, and potentially constituted “the worst crisis in 150 years” in Anglican-Catholic relations.

According to Noyes’ description of the conversation, Campbell warned that the move could unleash latent anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom, and even provoke acts of violence in isolated cases.

The cable from the U.S. diplomats expressed doubt about “whether the damage to inter-Christian relations was worth it,” especially, it said, “since the number of disaffected Anglicans that will convert is likely to be a trickle rather than a wave.”

Another cable from January 2009 from Noyes, written in the wake of a global controversy provoked by Pope Benedict’s decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist Catholic bishops, including one who is a Holocaust denier, said the case revealed a serious “communications gap” in the Vatican.

That gap, according to the cable, leads to “muddled, reactive messaging that reduces the volume of the moral megaphone the Vatican uses to advance its objectives.”

The Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, is the only senior papal aide to use a Blackberry, according to the cable, and most senior Vatican officials don’t even use e-mail accounts.

Because senior Vatican officials typically do not understand the nature of modern communications, the cable asserted, they often speak in “coded” language impossible for the outside world to decipher. Noyes cited an example from the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, who said he had been given a letter from the Vatican which supposedly contained a positive message for his country, but it was “so veiled he missed it, even when told it was there.”

Part of the communications problem, the cable asserted, is structural: Lombardi is not part of the pope’s inner circle, so he “is the deliverer, rather than a shaper, of the message,” and he is “terribly overworked.”

In the wider Catholic world, the cable added, there are communications success stories – pointing in particular to the way the Catholic group Opus Dei responded to the frenzy created by the novel and movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

In general, the cable reported there's ferment in the Vatican about the need for better communications strategies, but little concrete sense of what to do about it.

“Our Vatican contacts seem to be talking about nothing but the need for better internal coordination on decisions and planned public messages,” it said. “But if or when change will come remains an open question.”

For the moment, it doesn't seem that today's disclosures are likely to create a diplomatic crisis, especially given that the Vatican announced preemptively that it did not want the WikiLeaks revelations to disrupt U.S./Vatican ties.

For one thing, Vatican officials realize that at least some of the critical assessments expressed in the leaked cables, especially on the PR front, are widely shared inside the Vatican itself. In addition, the Obama White House has tried to send reassuring signals to Rome, including the recent appointment of a presidential delegation to attend the Nov. 20 consistory for the creation of 24 new cardinals. It was the first time a U.S. president sent an official delegation to a consistory, and it was seen in the Vatican as a diplomatic way of expressing respect.

At mid-morning, Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, released a statement in both Italian and English on the WikiLeaks disclosures.

"Without venturing to evaluate the extreme seriousness of publishing such a large amount of secret and confidential material, and its possible consequences" the statement read, "the Holy See Press Office observes that part of the documents published recently by Wikileaks concerns reports sent to the U.S. State Department by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See."

"Naturally these reports reflect the perceptions and opinions of the people who wrote them," the statement said, "and cannot be considered as expressions of the Holy See itself, nor as exact quotations of the words of its officials. Their reliability must, then, be evaluated carefully and with great prudence, bearing this circumstance in mind."

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz likewise issued a statement, condemning the leaks "in the strongest possible terms" while declining to comment on their authenticity.

The United States and the Holy See are working together on multiple fronts, Diaz said, from fixing the global economy to human rights, climate change and interfaith dialogue, and those partnerships "will withstand this challenge."

Pope Calls on All Religions to Act on "Shared Values"

This article comes from the National Catholic Reporter.
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Pope calls on religions to defend environment, human life


By John Allen Jr.

LONDON -- A great irony of Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to relations with other religions is that this theologian-pope has to some extent dethroned theology, in favor of what he calls “inter-cultural” dialogue. By that, he means focusing on social, cultural and political concerns where the religions agree, rather than on matters of doctrine where they don’t.

That theme surfaced again this morning, as Benedict XVI met a delegation of leaders of other religions gathered at St. Mary’s University in the Twickenham neighborhood of London, where the pope had earlier participated in an assembly of Catholic educators and schoolchildren.

Despite their differences, Benedict said, the various religions witness to the spiritual side of human life, which can inspire what he called “noble and generous action, to the benefit of the entire human family.”

In terms of specifics, Benedict pointed to “concrete forms of collaboration” such as “promoting integral human development [and] working for peace, justice and the stewardship of creation.” On that last point, Benedict argued that religious convictions can help humanity not “disfigure the beauty of creation by exploiting it for selfish purposes.”

Benedict also pointed to the “defense of human life at every stage,” as well as “how to ensure the non-exclusion of the religious dimension of individuals and communities in the life of society.”

Echoing a point that has long been a deep Vatican concern, Benedict said that one condition of dialogue among religions is "freedom to practice one's religion and to engage in acts of public worship, and the freedom to follow one's conscience without suffering ostracism or persecution, even after conversion from one religion to another."

In recent years the Vatican has made what it calls "reciprocity," which is another term for religious freedom, a top diplomatic and inter-religious priority. The pope's reference to conversion is likely an indirect reference to the experience of some majority Muslim states, where conversion from Islam is treated as a criminal offense.

On a more philosophical level, Benedict called on religious believers to remain in dialogue with the human and natural sciences, reminding them that “the quest for the sacred does not devalue other fields of human enquiry.”

“These disciplines do not and cannot answer the fundamental question, because they operate on another level altogether,” the pope said. “They cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart, they cannot fully explain to us our origin and our destiny, why and for what purpose we exist, nor indeed can they provide us with an exhaustive answer to the question, ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’”

Later this afternoon, Benedict XVI will visit the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at Lambeth Palace. He’s also scheduled to deliver a major address on faith and politics to leaders in British society gathered in Westminster Hall, the site where St. Thomas More was tried and condemned in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the church in England.

[John L. Allen, Jr. is NCR senior correspondent.]

John Allen will be filing reports throughout the Papal visit to the U.K. Sept. 16-19. Stay tuned to NCR Today for updates.

Pope and Patriarch Share Eco-Theology

This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.

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Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch promote protecting environment

Vatican City, Aug 30, 2010 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, the Holy Father prayed for God's assistance in protecting the earth for future generations. Both he and Patriarch Bartholomew I have made statements concerning the environment as the "Day for the Protection of the Environment" approaches.

The Orthodox Church-created and Italian Bishops' Conference-promoted event takes place on Sept. 1 under the theme "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation." The same theme was used by Benedict XVI for the World Day for Peace.

After Sunday's Angelus, Pope Benedict commented on the "day," which he noted is also an important moment for ecumenical relations. "Indeed," he said, "we have the duty to hand the earth on to future generations in such a condition that they too can worthily inhabit it and subsequently conserve it.

"May the Lord help us in this task!" prayed the Pope.

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, referred to by some as the "Green Patriarch," has issued an official statement for the celebration. His predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, originally established the start of the Orthodox liturgical year, Sept. 1, as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment.

Explaining that in today's world, economic and social stability are very closely attached to environmental conditions, he announced that there is a "dire need in our day for a combination of societal sanctions and political initiatives, such that there is a powerful change in direction, to a path of viable and sustainable environmental development."

Pope Benedict XVI has also taught extensively on the relationship of these elements, dedicating a significant portion of his encyclical "Caritas in veritate" to the theme. In that encyclical, he wrote that "one of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use - not abuse - of natural resources … " The Pontiff also exhorted the Church to assert its "responsibility towards creation" in the public sphere.

The Italian bishops' conference initiative will be observed with an ecumenical pilgrimage, which will traverse along a route called the "Path of Creation." The path will take pilgrims through a canyon in the Italian Alps.

In Africa, Vatican Battles "Western Secularism"

This article comes from John Allen, Jr.'s blog All Things Catholic at the National Catholic Reporter.

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Secularism, Africa and characters in Rome

During the Cold War, both sides saw the so-called "Third World" as a battleground for hearts and minds. More and more, the same thing is true in today's ideological struggles over secularism, and this summer has brought some important changes to the strategic map:

• On July 15, Argentina became the first nation outside Europe and North America to approve same-sex marriage.
• In two dramatic recent rulings, the Mexican Supreme Court has upheld marriage and adoption rights for homosexuals in Mexico City.
• Kenyans overwhelmingly approved a new constitution in early August despite objections that it opens the door to liberalized abortion.

For cultural conservatives who believe all this is fueled by Western campaigns to export radical secularism around the planet, Africa usually looms as the great hope for drawing a line in the sand. The latest effort to shore up the African front came during the July 26-August 2 plenary assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), which brings together the Catholic bishops of Africa, and which was held this year in Accra, Ghana. 

At that event, three Catholic writers and activists had the chance to address the African bishops, all associated with a fairly hawkish line vis-à-vis faith and culture. How successful such thinkers are in framing the African agenda may have a great deal to say about how Catholicism engages both the promise and perils of secularism in the 21st century.

First up was French Msgr. Tony Anatrella, who denounced what he regards as a toxic Western "gender theory," contrasting it with Pope Benedict XVI's social encyclical Caritas in Veritate. A social psychiatrist who teaches in Paris, Anatrella is a consultor to the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care as well as a member of an International Commission on Medjugorje for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Anatrella briefly became a cause célèbre in 2005, when he wrote an official commentary for the Vatican newspaper asserting that homosexuality represents a "problem in psychic organization" and that gay men should not become priests even if they remain celibate. 

In his speech to the African bishops, Anatrella urged them to resist a Western ideology of "gender theory," which, he charged, has been elaborated by radical European (mainly French) intellectuals, and is currently being spread around the world "by the U.N. agencies, NGOs, the European Parliament of Strasburg and the Commission of Brussels." Gender theory, Anatrella said, posits that "human nature does not exist because the human being is merely the result of culture," and that "masculinity and femininity are mere social inventions." 

Those ideas, he said, amount to "intellectual viruses" and "anthropological heresies" with dangerous consequences. Here's how Anatrella laid it out for the African bishops:

"This ideology of gender, produced by the human sciences, is a new form of idealism which, like Marxism, is contrary to human interests. … It suggests that sexual identity is independent of biological facts, treating biological and psychological sexuality as nothing more than a social construct and a power game between men and women. The war between the sexes thus replaces class struggle. … Motherhood is considered a handicap and an injustice, since only women carry children. It is therefore necessary to liberate women from maternity, which explains the multiplication of campaigns in favor of contraception and abortion."

What all this amounts to, Anatrella said, is a "moral and anthropological deregulation" analogous to the market deregulation associated with liberal capitalism. He warned that a radically post-modern, post-Christian moral vision is often bundled with the process of globalization, and called on the African bishops to be on guard.

Marguerite Peeters, an American citizen who lives in Brussels, is author of The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution, which decries Western efforts to foist a post-modern secularist ideology on the rest of the world. Her topic in Accra was "recent Western ideologies and lifestyles contrary to the values and virtues of Christianity."

Peeters' text wasn't immediately available, but in an essay on the "new global ethic" that amounts to her manifesto, Peeters argues that secularism is more invidious than Communism because it does not "bring about a new political regime." Instead, it achieves "radical changes of mentality and behavior within institutions, inside enterprises, schools, universities, hospitals, cultures, governments, families -- inside the church."

"The institutional façade remains standing, while foreigners already occupy the rooms," she writes. "The enemy must be sought within -- inside is the new battleground."

Peeters warns that a sweeping "deconstruction of man and nature" has been packaged in a benign-sounding "new global ethic," which Catholics sometimes confuse with the social doctrine of the church. In fact, however, it seeks to install a "new hierarchy of values," with personal well-being placed above the sacredness of life, women's rights above motherhood, the individual above legitimate authority, the right to choose above the moral law, and, ultimately, the human person above God.

Like Anatrella, Peeters charges that this agenda is being propagated through the United Nations and various Western NGOs, which, she said, are funded and sustained by ideological special interests.

Finally, the bishops heard from Daniele Sauvage of the Africa Family Life Federation. Sauvage is a native of Mauritius, and her federation represents 29 groups in 20 African countries which promote traditional Catholic approaches to family life such as Natural Family Planning.

Over the years, Sauvage too has warned against Western concepts such as "reproductive health" and "gender ideology" which, she argues, amount to "virulent ideological poisons" being "imposed" upon the African continent by international organizations and special interest groups. To fight that threat, she urged the African bishops to invest in programs of formation for children, couples and families, and to support the development of pro-life movements and institutes.

Many African bishops seem sympathetic to such arguments. 

During the October 2009 Synod for Africa, for example, Archbishop Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg, president of the South African bishops' conference, asserted that Africa is "under heavy strain from liberalism, secularism and from lobbyists who squat at the United Nations," representing "a second wave of colonization, both subtle and ruthless at the same time." Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra was equally emphatic in an NCR interview, asserting that there's a "deliberate campaign" to push Africa towards acceptance of practices such as abortion and homosexuality, stemming from what he called "a particular lobby that sees African values as a danger to the 'new global ethic' propounded by the U.N., by the World Bank, by the IMF, and even by the European Union."

A SECAM spokesperson told me this week that Anatrella, Peeters and Sauvage had been recommended as speakers by several of the bishops, and that their presentations were "well appreciated."

"The bishops of Africa are really concerned about the issues they raised," said Ben Assorow, Director of Communications for SECAM.

If nothing else, all this may suggest that Catholic doves, meaning thinkers and activists in the church interested in seeking détente with secularism, might do well to reach out to the Africans. At the moment, their voices don't seem to have the same echo as the hawks.

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I reached Sauvage by phone on Thursday to discuss the SECAM assembly and perceived Western efforts to impose a secular ethic on Africa. A descendant of 18th century French settlers in Mauritius, Sauvage is a married mother of three children who recently welcomed her first grand-child. Her views are interesting not merely because she has an opportunity to shape the thinking of Africa's bishops, but as a mirror into Catholic pro-life activism in Africa.

What was your message to the bishops?

I spoke about what we are experiencing in our different associations, and in many ways it's good news. There's a very great enthusiasm for the church's message on love and marriage. That's very special, because I know it's not everywhere that couples and young people are eager to hear the church's message and to live in accord with God's plan. There are also lots of priests enthusiastic to work with us. We're constantly getting requests to go out and teach.

Is this because the church's message is consistent with traditional African values?

Yes, I think so. Africans are deeply rooted in their families and in the importance of the family. Women are happy to be women and men are happy to be men, so the idea of 'complementarity' comes naturally for them. Africans regard children as a gift. All of that means they generally welcome what the church has to say.

Do you believe there's an effort to impose Western-style secularism upon Africa?

Yes, it's really very sad. Outside groups often do not respect the dignity of Africans or their traditions. The mentality of 'safe sex,' the pleasure principle, treating other persons as objects … all of that is coming from outside Africa and being imposed on us. The massive distribution of condoms by Western governments and NGOs is the most obvious example.

How does this 'pressure' work?

It comes through the government, through the different ministries. For example, none of our associations get a cent from all these international organizations which come to Africa. Their money is given to groups which promote a "gender theory." It's true, of course, that many women in Africa suffer from second-class citizenship, but instead of educating men to recognize the dignity of women, these groups promote the view that in order for women to be equal, they have to be 'liberated' from having children. It's important to be aware of this pressure, because sometimes we just go through the motions and accept these ideologies without understanding what is being done to us.

Do you believe the bishops are committed to resisting the pressure?

Yes, I think they are, but the big problem is resources. Organizations that help the family need money, but these international donors only give funds to what they want to support. If they don't believe in an idea, they won't give money to it. The danger is that the agenda will be set not by what's most important, but by what outsiders are willing to pay for.

As you know, the first part of the bishops' meeting in Ghana was about self-reliance, and it's a big concern. Take the issue of ecology. We're all concerned about climate change and so on, and it would be easy for the bishops to get money for programs on those issues. But what about human ecology and the family values which are so rich in Africa? Who wants to give money for that?

Do you believe that as Africa develops economically, it will become more secular?

It's a real possibility, and a threat if we don't emphasize the dignity of the human person. I think, however, there is still hope that Africa will develop differently than Europe. Many Africans are looking at what's happening in Europe, and they have their own thoughts about it. I've met a growing number of Africans who say they don't want their children to study there, because of what they see as an atheistic culture and a lack of respect for the family and the human person. I think it's possible Africans may not go into secularism as in the West, but instead keep the richness they have as regards their faith. Certainly we see strong influences from the West, but there's also a large number of people who are completely resisting it. Even in the education of children, we can see that there's resistance.

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Suggesting another face of Catholic engagement with Africa, my wife Shannon and I attended a dinner in Denver Wednesday night to support the mission of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Zambia. The Oblates are in the middle of raising $2 million to build a new seminary in Lusaka, the country's capital, in order to accommodate their burgeoning number of local vocations. (Although they arrived just a quarter-century ago, the Oblates already have 20 Zambian priests and 80 seminarians.)

In principle, there's nothing that made Wednesday night different from countless similar efforts to sustain various Catholic missions, projects and programs in Africa, except for its venue: The dinner took place in Denver's Boettcher Mansion, residence of the Governor of Colorado, and was hosted by Gov. Bill Ritter and his wife Jeannie, themselves former Oblate lay missionaries in Zambia.

Ritter, a Democrat, won the governor's job in 2006 and opted not to run for reelection this year. Until recently, he was one of two American governors with a background as a former Catholic lay missionary: Gov. Tim Kane of Virginia, also a Democrat, did missionary work in Honduras under the aegis of the Jesuits. (After his term ended earlier this year, Kane became the chairman of the Democratic National Committee).

Born in Denver, Ritter attended an Oblate junior seminary in Texas as a young man and remained friends with the order. After he served as a deputy district attorney in Denver in the 1980s, he and his wife were ready to try something else. They called an old friend in the Oblates, Fr. Bill Morell, to volunteer to serve in the order's Zambian mission. Morell said that at the time the Oblates didn't have a lay missionary program and were struggling just to keep their priests afloat, but as fate (or providence) would have it, he had opened a letter from a Zambian bishop asking for a lay Catholic couple to serve in his diocese just moments before Ritter called.

From 1987 to 2000, the Ritters ran a food distribution and nutrition education center in the isolated Western province of Zambia, trying to help chronically undernourished and malnourished locals develop the capacity to feed themselves and their children. They were certainly "all in" in terms of personal commitment; Jeannie Ritter explained that she brought one of their four children to Zambia, gave birth to a second there, and conceived a third. (Laughingly, she said the Oblates in Zambia joked that somebody needed to get this couple a TV, so they'd have something else to do with their time!)

As it happens, Jeannie Ritter was not a Catholic when she and the future governor headed off to Zambia. She was converted, she said, in part by the experience of serving the poorest of the poor in the name of the church, and in part by the witness of the Oblate priests she came to think of as members of her own family.

Political couples are, of course, adept at summoning fake enthusiasm, but watching the governor and his wife light up telling stories about Zambia, it seemed obvious the experience had left an impression. (That's all the more credible given that Ritter isn't running for anything at the moment.) The moral of the story is that when the church calls Catholics to serve, the payoff isn't just for the beneficiaries of the mission – in this case, the impoverished Zambians who are better fed because of the Ritters and the legacy they left behind. It also changes the missionaries themselves, giving them a different sense of the world and their place in it.

How that alters the trajectory of their lives is anybody's guess, but every now and then it may just land them in a governor's mansion.

Information on the Oblates' seminary project in Zambia can be found here: Help Us Help Others.

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The big story in Rome this week was the death on Tuesday of Francesco Cossiga, a former president of Italy and a titan of the European political scene for the entire post-war period. Politically he was a man of contradictions, the most pro-Atlantic figure in the old Christian Democrats and yet also the architect of bringing the first ex-Communist to power in Italy. Irascible and unpredictable, he was known as the "pickaxe" for his legendary verbal eruptions.

Cossiga was an active Catholic, a believer who prayed daily and took regular pilgrimages to Assisi. He defined himself as "a liberal Catholic," by which he meant a Catholic reconciled with modern democracy and the separation of powers – as the Italians put it, "a free church in a free state."

On Tuesday night, the Vatican released a statement saying that Pope Benedict XVI shared the grief of Cossiga's family, calling him "an authoritative protagonist of Italian national life and a man of faith." The Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, penned a brief reflection in which he recalled his own contacts with Cossiga over the years, as well as the many "evenings of rich philosophical and theological conversation" which Cossiga shared with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Bertone said that in thinking about his "illustrious and dear friend" the other night, Benedict pointed to three objectives which Cossiga tenaciously pushed the church to accomplish over the years: the proclamation of St. Thomas More as the patron of Catholic politicians, the rehabilitation of the 19th century Italian reformer Antonio Rosmini, and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Two of the three have already happened, and Benedict is set to beatify Newman next month in Birmingham, England.

L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, reprinted a 2009 essay penned by Cossiga and devoted to the impact of Newman on the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). It may seem odd that an Italian politician would be devoted to a 19th century English theologian and apologist, but for Cossiga's kind of "liberal Catholic," Newman, like Rosmini, has always been a patron saint.

In his essay, Cossiga argues that Newman helped set the stage for Vatican II in five important areas:

• Freedom of conscience and religion, which paved the way to accept the separation of church and state;
• The role of the laity;
• Recovery of the Bible and the Fathers of the church;
• The idea of development in Catholic doctrine, which Cossiga defined as an "intellectual miracle";
• Ecumenism.

Perhaps the most striking element of Cossiga's essay is a quotation he reproduced from the French Catholic philosopher Jean Guitton, who wrote the following in L'Osservatore Romano in 1964, as Vatican II was nearing its close:

"Great geniuses are prophets who always illuminate great events, and those events, in turn, throw a retrospective light upon the great geniuses which gives them a prophetic character. It's like the rapport that runs between Isaiah and the Passion of Christ, reciprocally illuminating: thus Newman sheds light on the Council with his presence, and in turn the Council justifies Newman."

To round out the picture, Cossiga's version of liberal Catholicism was certainly not that of today's left-wing church reform crowd.

In 2008, he came out swinging against Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the distinguished Jesuit former archbishop of Milan, after publication of Martini's book Siamo tutti sulla stessa barca ("We're All in the Same Boat"), co-written with Fr. Luigi Verzè, a well-known progressive Italian priest. The book called for greater openness to divorced and remarried Catholics and other measures Cossiga judged to be excessively lax.

As ever, the pickaxe did not pull his punches. After declaring he was now sorry that as prime minister (in keeping with protocol at the time) he had signed off on Martini's appointment to Milan in 1979, Cossiga acidly said the only thing missing in the cardinal's book was "a defense of pedophilia as a tradition of Hellenism."

Cossiga also ripped Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Germany and Cardinal Diogini Tettamanzi, Martini's successor in Milan, of whose leadership Cossiga said that "before long, we'll see naked women dancing in the cathedral." He likewise attacked lay theologian Vito Mancuso, who famously presents his liberal positions as expressions of an "adult faith."

"I'm an infant and in communion with the church," Cossiga said in that 2008 interview, "so I don't agree."

All this, I suppose, belongs in the "only in Italy" file, where former heads of state spend their time poring over the latest theological titles and taking potshots at prelates who aren't their cup of tea.

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Speaking of enduring characters on the Roman scene, Cardinal Renato Martino, former president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, himself has long had a "pickaxe"-esque willingness to speak his mind. Before, during and after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Martino was the source of the strongest Vatican criticism -- recall, for example, his charge that U.S. troops treated the captured Saddam Hussein "like a cow."

Martino was at it again this week, commenting on the resignation of Archbishop Gerardo Pierro of Salerno, currently under investigation by civil prosecutors for his role in a scheme centering on a summer home for disadvantaged children recently converted into a luxury hotel. Supposedly, Pierro helped secure more than $3 million in public funding to spruce up the home, and then turned it into a high-end property in collaboration with a private developer. It's not the first time Pierro has been in hot water; back in 2002 he was investigated for allegedly misusing funds donated for renovation of the diocesan seminary, though in that case prosecutors decided he had acted "in good faith."

Martino, who grew up in Salerno and still spends his summer vacation there, basically told reporters it's high time that Pierro was replaced. Martino said the new bishop will need to "change everything," a clear vote of no confidence in Pierro's tenure.

On other matters, Martino, now 77, announced that he intends to spend the next year denouncing conditions in Italian prisons, where, he charged, "the human rights of inmates are not respected."

"So-called civil society is completely disinterested in this problem, and I want to shout my disgust strongly," Martino said.

When a journalist pointed out that the cause of prison conditions is typically taken up only by the ferociously anti-clerical Radical Party, Martino didn't back down: "When the cause is good, I don't care about its political affiliation," he said.

Martino added that he learned the "vocation of denouncing" in high school, when he read Alessandro Manzoni's famous novel i Promessi Sposi ("The Betrothed") and was enchanted by the character of Fra Cristoforo. For those who haven't read the book, Cristoforo is the fiery-tempered son of a middle class businessman, who gets into a duel with a nobleman and ends up killing him. He takes refuge in a Capuchin friary, becomes a priest, and emerges as a relentless champion of the downtrodden. Martino said he loved the character so much that when he became a Franciscan tertiary as a young man, he took the name Ludovico, which was Cristoforo's name before his entry into the Capuchins.

A reporter asked Martino if, in the church of today, there are more Cristoforos or Don Abbondios – the latter being another character in Manzoni's novel, a cowardly and lazy cleric who steers clear of anything resembling effort.

Martino's blunt answer: "There aren't nearly enough Cristoforos."

* * *

Finally, on the subject of longtime figures in Rome passing from the scene, it's important to note the Aug. 16 death of Professor Nicola Cabibbo, the veteran president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a professor of particle physics at Rome's La Sapienza University.

Cabibbo was a gentle, unassuming presence, but he left an important legacy at the Academy of Sciences, the 78-member panel of researchers and specialists from around the world (many non-Catholic and even non-believing) which advises the pope on scientific matters. It's descended from the "Academy of the Lynxes," founded in 1603, making it the oldest scientific academy in the world.

Cabibbo devoted his life to trying to overcome the breach between the church and science, insisting relentlessly that when they're properly understood, faith and science are mutually reinforcing rather than contradictory.

Here's an interview I did with Cabibbo back in 2005, where he gently disagreed with an op/ed piece by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna in the New York Times that seemed to endorse the "intelligent design" movement: Interview with Professor Nicola Cabibbo.

Benedict and the Buddha: Ecological Partners

This article comes from Asia News.

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Christians and Buddhists share "ecological responsibility" and respect for life, Vatican says

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Christians and Buddhists can improve their co-operation in order to “encourage efforts to create a sense of ecological responsibility, while at the same time reaffirming our shared convictions about the inviolability of human life at every stage and in every condition, the dignity of the person and the unique mission of the family, where one learns to love one’s neighbour and to respect nature.” This goal is at the centre of a message released by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on the occasion of the Buddhist festivity of Vesakh.

For Buddhists, this is the most important day for it commemorates the key moments in the life of the Buddha. This year, celebrations will take place in Korea and Taiwan on 21 May, in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam on 28 May. In Japan, they were held on 8 March. The message was translated in simplified and traditional Chinese as well as Japanese and Korean.

Titled “Christians and Buddhists respect Human Life as the Basis of Respect for All Beings,” the message is co-signed by the president of the Pontifical council, Card Jean-Louis Tauran, and its secretary, Mgr Pier Luigi Celata. It hopes that “existing bonds of friendship and collaboration in service to humanity” can become stronger.

“Let us take this opportunity,” the message reads, “to reflect together on a theme of particular relevance today, namely, the environmental crisis that has already caused notable hardship and suffering throughout the world. The efforts of both of our communities to engage in interreligious dialogue have brought about a new awareness of the social and spiritual importance of our respective religious traditions in this area. We recognize that we hold in common a regard for values like respect for the nature of all things, contemplation, humility, simplicity, compassion, and generosity. These values contribute to a life of nonviolence, equilibrium, and contentment with sufficiency.”

“Pope Benedict XVI, has noted that ‘the various phenomena of environmental degradation and natural disasters… remind us of the urgent need to respect nature as we should, and to recover and value a correct relationship with the environment in everyday life’ (General Audience, 26 August 2009). The Catholic Church considers the protection of the environment as intimately linked to the theme of integral human development; and for her part, she is committed not only to promoting the protection of land, water and air as gifts destined for everyone, but also to encouraging others to join the efforts to protect mankind from self-destruction. Our responsibility to protect nature springs, in fact, from our respect for one another; it comes from the law inscribed in the hearts of all men and women. Consequently, when human ecology is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits (cf Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, n. 51).”

Lastly, “Both Christians and Buddhists have a profound respect for human life. It is crucial therefore that we encourage efforts to create a sense of ecological responsibility, while at the same time reaffirming our shared convictions about the inviolability of human life at every stage and in every condition, the dignity of the person and the unique mission of the family, where one learns to love one’s neighbour and to respect nature.”

Priest Analyzes Benedict's Eco-Theology

This article comes from Zenit.

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Commandments for the Environment

Benedict XVI Urges Responsibility Toward Creation

By Father John Flynn, LC

ROME, APRIL 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- In the five years since he was elected Pope, Benedict XVI has repeatedly spoken out on issues concerning ecology. As a result some have taken to calling him the "Green Pope," but such a label does not do justice to his statements.

A useful guide to what the current Pontiff has said on creation and our responsibility toward it came in a book published last year by journalist Woodeene Koenig-Bricker. In "Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Out for Creation and Justice," (Ave Maria Press), she collects the Pope's comments, and intersperses it with her own personal opinions on the environment.

The phrase "Ten Commandments for the Environment" is not Benedict XVI's, but was the title of an address given in 2005 by then Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. [Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi is currently the bishop of Trieste, Italy.]

The primary message of these commandments is that we must be responsible stewards of God's creation, and this corresponds to what the Pontiff has subsequently said, Koenig-Bricker commented.

"Today, we all see that man can destroy the foundations of his existence, his earth, hence, that we can no longer simply do what we like or what seems useful and promising at the time with this earth of ours, with the reality entrusted to us," the Pope said July 24, 2007, when answering questions from the priests of the northern Italian dioceses of Belluno-Feltre and Treviso.

This care for creation is founded on a conviction that goes a lot deeper than just a concern for the ecology. Benedict XVI made this clear on answering a question during his summer holidays the following year. At his meeting with the clergy of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone on Aug. 6, 2008, he stated that there is an "indissoluble bond" between creation and redemption.

Subdue the earth

"The Redeemer is the Creator and if we do not proclaim God in his full grandeur -- as Creator and as Redeemer -- we also diminish the value of the Redemption," the Holy Father affirmed after mentioning that unfortunately in preceding decades the doctrine of creation had almost disappeared from theology.

Christians have been accused, Benedict XVI observed, of being responsible for the destruction of creation because of the words in Genesis, "subdue the earth."

This charge is false he argued, as if we see the earth as God's creation: "the task of 'subduing' it was never intended as an order to enslave it but rather as the task of being guardians of creation and developing its gifts; of actively collaborating in God's work ourselves, in the evolution that he ordered in the world so that the gifts of Creation might be appreciated rather than trampled upon and destroyed."

This linkage between the natural and supernatural, between faith in God and respect for creation was something Benedict XVI returned to in his interview with journalists on the plane trip to Sydney, Australia, on July 12, 2008.

"We need the gift of the Earth, the gift of water, we need the Creator; the Creator reappears in his creation. And so we also come to understand that we cannot be really happy, cannot be really promoting justice for all the world, without a criterion at work in our own ideas, without a God who is just, and gives us the light, and gives us life," he said.

The role of the Redeemer was mentioned by the Pope in his Midnight Mass homily of 2007. Christ, he said, "came to restore beauty and dignity to creation, to the universe: This is what began at Christmas and makes the angels rejoice."

Christmas is a feast of restored creation, the Earth is made new and we celebrate that heaven and earth, and man and God are united, he commented.

God's gift

Just after the publication of Koenig-Bricker's book came the Pope's encyclical "Charity in Truth." A few paragraphs in the encyclical were dedicated to the environment and among other points the Pontiff warned of viewing nature from a purely materialistic perspective. Human salvation cannot come from nature alone, he pointed out.

We have a legitimate stewardship over nature, Benedict XVI affirmed, which involves a duty to hand over to future generations an earth that is in good condition.

This is not just a matter for science or economics, he added, but needs to be integrated into a human ecology that includes all that shapes our existence.

"The book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations: in a word, integral human development," the Pope said.

There is a fundamental contraction in our mentality if, on the one hand, we insist on respect for the natural environment while, on the other hand, not respecting the right to life and to a natural death, Benedict XVI insisted.

This linkage between respect for the environment and respect for life has been a recurring theme in the Pope's statements on the ecology.

"The great and vital moral themes of peace, non-violence, justice, and respect for creation do not in themselves confer dignity on man," he told the new Irish ambassador to the Holy See on Sept. 15, 2007.

Human life has an innate dignity, he explained. "How disturbing it is that not infrequently the very social and political groups that, admirably, are most attuned to the awe of God's creation pay scant attention to the marvel of life in the womb," the Pope commented.

Ecology and peace

Earlier in the year, in his World Day of Peace Message for 2007, Benedict XVI also linked respect for the ecology and peace.

"Alongside the ecology of nature, there exists what can be called a 'human' ecology, which in turn demands a 'social' ecology," he observed. "Experience shows that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice versa," he continued.

"It becomes more and more evident that there is an inseparable link between peace with creation and peace among men. Both of these presuppose peace with God," the Pope concluded.

This relationship between ecology and peace returned as the central theme of the World Day of Peace Message in 2010.

The environment is God's gift to all peoples he said and neither nature nor humans should be seen as mere products, the Pope affirmed. He urged a greater solidarity among nations in dealing with ecological problems and to examine our lifestyle and models of consumption and productions.

Once more he warned against a pantheism or neo-paganism in which our salvation is seen as being achieved in the natural world alone. Benedict XVI stated that the Church has grave misgivings about an ecocentric or biocentric vision of the environment. The danger with these approaches is that they do not see any difference between the human person and other living creatures.

"In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the 'dignity' of all living creatures, such notions end up abolishing the distinctiveness and superior role of human beings," he adverted.

In concluding the message, Benedict XVI observed that Christians contemplate the cosmos and its marvels in the light of the creative work of the Father and the redemptive work of Christ. Care for the environment, respect for human values and life, and solidarity among all are thus linked to our faith in God, creator and redeemer. A complex vision of the natural and supernatural that goes far beyond the idea of simply being green.

Migliore Wants "Ecological Conversion"

Here is the formal speech delivered at Copenhagen by the Vatican's representative to the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore. Like other recent speeches emanating from Rome, this one contains a utopian gospel of eco-theology, social solidarity, and unabashed global governance.

It can be found on the Caritas blog.

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Copenhagen Summit: Holy See Statement

By Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Apostolic Nuncio, Head of the Holy See Delegation

This conference reiterates how long it takes to create the clear and firm political will necessary to adopt common binding measures and adequate budgets for an effective mitigation and adaptation to ongoing climate change.

Is this political will slow in taking shape due to the complexity of the interlinking issues that we must tackle? Is it mainly a problem of conflicting national interests? Or is it the difficulty in translating into numbers the by-now acquired principle of common and differentiated responsibility? Or is it still the predominance of energy policies over care of the environment? Undoubtedly, there is a little of all of this.

However, it should be noted how the many considerations that are being developed during this process converge on a central aspect: the necessity of a new and deeper reflection on the meaning of the economy and its purposes, and a profound and far-reaching revision of the model for development, to correct the malfunctions and distortions. This, in fact, is required by the good ecological health of the planet and especially as an urgent response to the cultural and moral crisis of man, whose symptoms have long been evident all over the world.

With realism, trust and hope we must assume the new responsibilities which call us to the scene of a world in need of a deep cultural renewal and a rediscovery of fundamental values on which to build a better future. The moral crises that humanity is currently experiencing, be they economic, nutritional, environmental, or social – all deeply interlinked – oblige us to redesign our way, to establish new guidelines and to find new forms of engagement. These crises become thus the occasion for discernment and new thinking.

Obviously, this obligation requires the collection of detailed and accurate scientific analysis to help avoid the anxieties and fears of many and the cynicism and indifference on the part of others. It also requires the responsible involvement of all segments of human society to search for and discover an adequate response to the tangible reality of climate change. If the diagnosis – by force of circumstances in the hands of science, information and politics – finds it difficult to provide clarity and to motivate the concerted and timely action of those responsible for human society, reason and the innate sense of shared responsibility of the people once again must prevail.

Civil society and local authorities did not wait for the expected political and legally binding conclusions of our meetings, which take such an incredibly long time. Instead, individuals, groups, local authorities and communities have already begun an impressive series of initiatives to give form to the two cornerstones of the response to climate change: adaptation and mitigation. While technical solutions are necessary, they are not sufficient. The wisest and most effective programs focus on information, education, and the formation of the sense of responsibility in children and adults towards environmentally sound patterns of development and stewardship of creation.

These initiatives have already started to build up a mosaic of experiences and achievements marked by a widespread ecological conversion. These new attitudes and behaviors have the potential to create the necessary intra-generational and inter-generational solidarity and dispel any sterile sense of fear, apocalyptic terror, overbearing control and hostility towards humanity that are multiplied in media accounts and other reports.

The Holy See, in the albeit small state of Vatican City, also is making significant efforts to take a lead in environmental protection by promoting and implementing energy diversification projects targeted at the development of renewable energy, with the objective of reducing emissions of CO2 and its consumption of fossil fuels.

In addition, the Holy See is giving substance to the necessity to disseminate an education in environmental responsibility, which also seeks to safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic human ecology. Many Catholic educational institutions are engaged in promoting such a model of education, both in schools and in universities. Moreover, Episcopal Conferences, Dioceses, parishes and faith-based NGOs have been devoted to advocacy and management of ecological programs for a number of years.

These efforts are about working on lifestyles, as the current dominant models of consumption and production are often unsustainable from the point of view of social, environmental, economic and even moral analysis. We must safeguard creation – soil, water and air – as a gift entrusted to everyone, but we must also and above all prevent mankind from destroying itself. The degradation of nature is directly connected to the culture that shapes human coexistence: when the human ecology is respected within society, the environmental ecology will benefit. The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself.

In his recent encyclical Caritas in veritate and World Day of Peace Message 2010 Pope Benedict XVI addressed to all those involved in the environmental sector an inescapable question: how can we hope that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves?

Environment and climate change entail a shared responsibility toward all humanity, especially the poor and future generations.

There is an inseparable link between the protection of creation, education and an ethical approach to the economy and development. The Holy See hopes that the process in question can ever more appreciate this link and, with this outlook, continues to give its full cooperation.

Given before the plenary of the High-Level Segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 17 December 2009

Catholic Socialism: Briefly Defined

A faithful reader of The Vatican Lobby has requested that I briefly explain what I mean by "Catholic socialism." This reader feels that pushing these two terms together is oxymoronic, and he is certain that the Roman Catholic church expressly condemns all tenets of socialism. And he is not alone in thinking this way. Many Catholics believe as such, and they believe it because the church has said so numerous times.

Clever wordplay, however--as I have stated often--easily obscures the truth.

Socialism, as the word is commonly used today, usually implies some kind of belief in a "community of goods." It traditionally refers (especially in America) to Soviet-style Communism founded upon the atheistic thought of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. The Catholic church has indeed spoken out against this ideology for more than a century, rightly condemning its godless and backward reasoning as destructive to humanity. However, this opposition to atheistic Communism by no means precludes the church from endorsing "Catholic social teaching" or what I like to call "Catholic socialism."

This unique ideology was born in an encyclical drafted by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 called Rerum Novarum ("On New Things"). In this document, which was distributed to bishops and congregations all over the world, Leo XIII addressed the condition of exploited workers and challenged the atheistic social model that was then sweeping across Europe with a social model of his own.

Rerum Novarum was immensely influential. It provided opponents of Marxism with a fully thought-out schema for organizing social and economic relations under a Christian regime. It marked the beginning of the so-called social gospel--that is, a move away from spreading only the news of "Jesus Christ and him crucified" to spreading the news of a Christian-esque political system--leading to the formation of the mighty Christian Democrat parties of Europe. In the end, Leo's encyclical expanded Christianity from being merely a spiritual message with a limited role in secular society to being a social system equipped to regulate all aspects of human existence. Several likeminded encyclicals appeared over the next hundred years, reaffirming and clarifying Leo XIII original vision. Together, these "social encyclicals" comprise the official body of Catholic social teaching.

TENETS

So what is this teaching all about?

Below I have listed and briefly described a few main tenets that more or less make up the doctrines of Catholic socialism:

• Human Dignity

The Catholic church believes that each person is unique and possessed of a soul that intrinsically matters in the overall scheme of things. Of course, it is difficult to deny the truth of this statement or to resist it in any way. All human beings do matter.

• Solidarity and subsidiarity

The church believes that human society should be built on a model of solidarity--that is, on the notion that each human being does not live in isolation but is dependent on and interwoven with the corporate whole of humanity.

The church also believes in the concept of subsidiarity--that affairs should be handled by the smallest or most localized authority first. The intervention of a centralized authority should only occur when no local authority is able to address the matter.

While this principle of subsidiarity fully comports with a federal system like the United States of America, the principle of solidarity--when put into practice--often results in a situation very much resembling the situation under communism. Since we are all "dependent" and interwoven" with each other, the church--and here, as always, there is some politburo, some hierarchy, some "boss" of the social order, regardless of the flowery rhetoric--politely orders that we distribute our excess to those in need.

Solidarity, to be blunt, completely (and intentionally) contradicts the American ideal of individual reward for individual work.

• Charity

This tenet is very vague, but it essentially holds that human beings should express love toward other human beings. The "in truth" that usually accompanies "charity" in formal documents qualifies this love as non-relativistic. Essentially, human beings are to love each other while still retaining a fixed position of truth.

Benedict XVI has given this tenet special prominence throughout his pontificate.

• Distributism

This idea is somewhat convoluted but I will do my best to explain it here. Basically, the idea is that all the citizens of a state (or other social entity) should equally own/control the means of production. This would include land, machinery, and tools, but it would not include the actual capital used to produce goods.

In proposing this idea, the church attempts to forge a "third way" between atheistic communism and unbridled capitalism. Hilaire Belloc, one of Catholicism's most rabid theorists, described the distributive idea more fully in his book The Servile State. The desire of Belloc and others like him was to return society to the pre-capitalistic days of medieval Europe, when distinguished and wealthy families built localized fiefdoms offering peasants a "cooperative" share in the family enterprise by allotting them land and right within that social order. The Roman Catholic church, of course, would provide the distributive world-system with the overarching "glue" needed to bind disparate economies together, as well the "lubricant" needed to make them cooperate in solidarity toward a common goal.

As one economist has put it, "Distributists refer to capitalism as 'neo-feudalism,' but in reality, what they propose is a return to pre-capitalistic, medieval life. Their antipathy for the division of labor—that basic Smithian principle that has brought so much prosperity to the world—is grounded in a Marxist understanding of 'worker alienation.' Indeed, distributism could be considered a kinder, gentler Communism, and we all know how well that worked." (See this article)

The distributist ideology is consciously socialist and anti-capitalist--that really goes without saying.

PROBLEMS

There are many day-to-day problems created by socialist ideology, all of which are well-known and none of which I care to dwell on here. The major problem with Catholic socialism, however, occurs when it meets globalization. As long as this ideology was limited to particular countries (most notably in Europe), there was not much Americans could say. But with the rise of international organizations and the Vatican's aggressive pelting of these organizations with arguments (disguised or undisguised) in favor of Catholic socialism, the situation becomes suddenly more serious.

Within the past two decades, the church has been consciously trying to forge a "new international order" (see John Paul II's World Day of Peace message, 2004) based on the tenets of Catholic socialism. This order uses the principles of human dignity--which are, by themselves, completely noble--to justify a grand coalition across national, ethnic, and religious boundaries in defense of "life." This order also uses the disparity between rich countries and poor countries to argue in favor of a "worldwide distribution of. . .resources." Most recently, this order has used the controversial climate crisis to justify a "global solidarity" (see Benedict XVI's World Day of Peace message, 2009) that, it is claimed, can "save humanity from. . .self-destruction" (see Benedict's message for 2010).

The church's ultimate goal is to unite the planet under the authority of Rome. People may think I am exaggerating in saying such a thing, but I urge my readers to think about it logically.

- The Vatican believes it is the world's only true spiritual capital--which of course gives it authority over all other spheres of human existence.

- The Vatican believes its message is the only message that will bring peace on earth (Pacem in terris, Pope John XXIII).

- The Vatican believes its duty is to "evangelize" the whole earth with this message, to bring its distinctive brand of social Christianity to all peoples and to thus reshape the contours of human relations.

- The Vatican believes that it will ultimately be successful, and that the whole earth--under the guiding hand of the Roman Catholic church--will eventually move into a messianic age distinguished by love and dignity for all.

CONCLUSION

This confluence between Catholic socialism and Rome's desire for global governance is the basis for my concern that the Vatican is "one of the most dangerous actors in world politics today." The fact that so many people are falling for this blended and innovative "gospel"--indeed, so many Americans--only aggravates my concern and causes me to post information on this blog every day in order to warn those who may not be aware.

[There is a whole separate Christian argument why Catholic socialism is wrong, but I will not go into detail here. Suffice to say, Christians are called to spread only the gospel of Christ's death and resurrection, and to wait patiently for the day when Jesus will establish His kingdom upon this earth with power. Until that day, according to the Bible, there will be no peace on earth. In fact, any claims to establish universal peace prior to the arrival of this kingdom are instantly suspect.]

I encourage my readers to go back through the archives of this blog--especially in the categories "Catholic Socialism," "Global Governance," and "Eco-Theology"--and to read the speeches and articles that I have posted over the past few months. Then venture outside this blog to read the many hundreds of other Catholic documents that speak to the topic (for one small example, see this 2009 policy paper released by CIDSE). Next, study the modern history of Europe, especially since World War II, and witness the practical results of policies promoted by Christian Democrats . Finally, compare the foundational aspects of American politics and economics with the Roman Catholic approach. You will find, I guarantee, that there is a stark difference between our model and the one preached by the Vatican.

If you are really diligent, go to this site and read all the speeches made by the Holy See's representatives to the United Nations. You will see immediately that the Vatican is not content to keep this ideology under a bushel, but is aggressively "evangelizing" the international community to accept it and implement it to the detriment of many.