Hitler's Pope: Legacy and Controversy
Dateline: December 01, 1999
Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell. (1999 Viking/Penguin Group). Reviewed by Jim Baysinger.
"HITLER'S POPE: LEGACY AND CONTROVERSY" > Page 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5
John Paul II and Authoritarianism
Even though Karol Wojtyla has proved to be a gifted public-relations front man for the Church, his enforcement of papal totalitarianism has prompted many Catholics to fall away from adherence to various dogmas or even to quit the Church altogether. Although John Paul II may be as despotic as Pius XII ever was, he is better at putting a smiling face on his no-questions-asked, you-will-obey-me rulership. On questions concerning birth control, gay rights, feminism, divorce, liberal theology and other issues, he has become as reactionary as any medieval pope.
Regarding the Pacelli-written Canon Law mandate for the Pope to appoint even unpopular bishops over the contrary wishes of congregations, Wojtyla commented, "You must not allow any doubts to arise about the right of the Pope freely to appoint bishops." And he certainly has appointed unpopular bishops, among them the "archconservative" Wolfgang Haas of Chur, Switzerland, which resulted in protesting "...parishioners forming a human carpet in front of the cathedral and forcing the celebrants to step over them to enter the building." (Quoted from Hitler's Pope.)
All this is to a large extent a legacy of Pius XII's policies. Having helped usurp the traditional rights of parishes to select their own bishops long before he was Pope, when he helped draft the absolutist-oriented Code of Canon Law, Pacelli later, as Pope, appointed reactionaries and authoritarians like himself to those bishoprics. He also loaded the Vatican Curia with like-minded cardinals, ensuring that future papal elections would be influenced for years to come by the conservatives. Karol Wojtyla himself was appointed Bishop by Pacelli and elected Pope John Paul II with the help of more of Pius XII's appointees.
Elimination of Dissent
John Paul II is actively continuing Pius XII's policies of crushing grassroots, democratic opposition to his totalitarian control. He has revoked the teaching credentials of liberal Catholic theologians like Hans Küng (for questioning papal infallibility) and Charles Curran of the United States (for excessively liberal views on sexuality) - these are among several examples Cornwell provides of John Paul II's absolutist inflexibility. Outside of Cornwell's work, we have a current example in John Paul II's requirement that Catholic teachers of religious subjects be licensed according to Vatican approved guidelines, in an effort to control college curriculums more directly from Rome. This, in spite of resistance by prominent American churchmen including archbishop Weakland of Milwaukee.[5]
Incidentally, John Paul II is right now pushing hard to have Pius XII declared a saint. Wojtyla's fondness for Pacelli is somewhat inexplicable considering Pacelli's attempted sellout of the Poles to Germany over the Danzig (Gdansk) question on the eve of the War and his subsequent failure to denounce Hitler after he invaded Poland, two issues also covered by Cornwell. And the man assigned to investigate Pius' qualifications for beatification (Father Peter Gumpel, interviewed by Cornwell) doesn't want to hear one word against his personal hero, Pius XII, friend and Holy Father to all mankind. (See comments about Gumpel, below.)
Even if you are non-Catholic, do not make the mistake of thinking that Catholic history and the reign of a long-dead pope like Pius XII can have no effect on your life today. Pius XII lives on through his continuing negative, reactionary influence on modern affairs, as John Cornwell convincingly demonstrates. If you don't believe Mr. Cornwell, just ask Mr. Wojtyla.
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