[Peace-discuss] On the Bishop of Rome…

Thu Apr 24 16:31:38 CDT 2008

Ray McGovern is a serious and decent person, part of the Catholic movement, and 
many Catholics share his wish that the pope had been more forthright in his 
condemnation of the US war, as he has in the past (as the impeccably liberal 
John Nichols pointed out in the i. l. The Nation: "The Pope and the President" 
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8313/>).

I do think McGovern is a bit misled when he writes, "Here in the U.S., the pope 
seemed to prefer to dwell again and again on the pedophilia scandal -- to the 
exclusion of much else." That was indeed what one read in the papers -- but I 
think that the US media have a particularly settled idee fixe about the Roman 
church these days: there are two points (1) this pope is a terrible 
conservative, God's Rottweiler, and (2) the only interesting thing about the 
church at the moment is the pedophilia scandal.  That's how the story was 
covered, universally, so little attention was paid to what the pope actually 
said: they already knew what it would be.

In fact, they didn't.  If one actually reads the texts of the speeches the pope 
delivered in the US, one finds that he spent most of his time on political 
matters, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which McGovern 
doesn't mention, because the papers rarely if ever did).  The US of course 
refuses to regard the Declaration as International law (because among other 
things it would condemn the war), but the the pope stressed its importance. He 
also condemned big-power control of the international community. (Whom could he 
mean?)

One thing that makes me think that McGovern was relying on the papers instead of 
reading what the pope said is that he misses the only relatively new thing 
Benedict said about the the sex scandal: the clear distinction he drew between 
pedophilia and homosexuality. Of course the papers generally missed it too.

Mort points out that the selections below are excerpts from McGovern's piece.  I 
note that he omits McGovern's long condemnation of the Democrats (particularly 
Catholic ones), obviously much worse than the pope on Iraq, and much more 
responsible. (Mort does reverently include the concluding quote, from one of the 
great saints of the Western tradition.) --CGE

Brussel Morton K. wrote:
> An addendum to the "Bishop of Rome" mention given by Carl in our AWARE 
> meeting last Sunday:
> 
> By Ray McGovern. 
> 
> The whole article is enlightening. See
> 
> http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern04222008.html. 
> 
> Excerpts follow.
> 
> *…Catholics All Around*
> 
> Think back to last week and the many prominent Catholics who flocked to 
> see the pope--many of them officials with considerable influence in the 
> Judiciary and Legislature, with important players in the Executive 
> Branch as well.
> 
> There they were, with their families, the five Catholic Supreme Court 
> justices, fresh from detailed deliberations on how best to implement 
> state-sponsored killings, executions that are banned by virtually every 
> civilized country.
> 
> Justice Scalia audibly salivated over how much noxious chemical should 
> be shot into the veins of a “condemned,” and how quickly.  (For those 
> with strong stomachs, C-SPAN captured the proceedings.)
> 
> I am embarrassed to acknowledge that, like me, Scalia is the product of 
> a Jesuit education (Xavier H.S. in Manhattan and Georgetown College).  
> Despite his advocacy of “soft” torture techniques like driving nails 
> under fingernails, Scalia continues to be lionized by many Jesuits and 
> bishops alike.…
> 
> 
> …Iraq is a shambles.  Two million Iraqis have fled abroad; another two 
> million are internal refugees.  Am I the only one who finds macabre the 
> raging debate as to whether the attack and occupation of Iraq has 
> resulted in a million or “only 300,000” Iraqis dead?
> 
> Apparently, the pope did not have any opinion on the Iraq war.
> 
> *But Torture?*
> 
> Surely the pope would speak out against the kind of torture for which 
> our country has become famous: Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, CIA “black 
> sites”--the more so, since Jesus of Nazareth was tortured to death.  The 
> pope chose silence, which presumably came as welcome relief to five-star 
> torturer’s apprentice, Gen. Michael Hayden, now head of the CIA.  The 
> White House has made clear that Hayden is ready to instruct his 
> torturers to water board again, upon Caesar’s approval.…
> 
> Saturday at the UN, the pontiff pontificated on “God-given human rights” 
> and “massive human rights abuses,” but pretty much left it at that.  The 
> /Washington Post/ reported that the pope was “short on specifics and 
> long on broad themes.”
> 
> But there was one specific.  Here in the U.S., the pope seemed to prefer 
> to dwell again and again on the pedophilia scandal--to the exclusion of 
> much else.…
> 
> While still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he headed The Congregation for 
> the Doctrine of the Faith--the Vatican office that once ran the 
> Inquisition.  In that capacity he sent a letter in May 2001 to all 
> Catholic bishops throwing a curtain of secrecy over the widespread 
> sexual abuse by clergy, warning the bishops of severe penalties, 
> including excommunication for breaching “pontifical secrets.”
> 
> Lawyers acting for the sexually abused accused Ratzinger of “clear 
> obstruction of justice.”…
> 
> I had hoped--naively, it turned out--that the pope might encourage his 
> brother bishops to find the courage to state plainly what 109 bishops of 
> the Methodist faith, George W. Bush’s tradition, declared on Nov. 8, 2005:
> 
> “We repent of our complicity in what we believe to be the unjust and 
> immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq.  In the face of the United 
> States Administration’s rush toward military action based on misleading 
> information, too many of us were silent.
> 
> “We confess our preoccupation with institutional enhancement and limited 
> agendas while American men and women are sent to Iraq to kill and be 
> killed, while thousands of Iraqi people needlessly suffer and die.”
> 
> I had thought that perhaps the U.S. Catholic bishops could adopt the 
> kind of resolution that 125 Methodist bishops signed on Nov. 9, 2007.  
> Speaking truth to power, the Methodists called for an immediate 
> withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the reversal of any plans to 
> establish permanent military bases there.
> 
> The Methodist bishops’ resolution noted:  “Every day that the war 
> continues, more soldiers and innocent civilians are killed with no end 
> in sight to the violence, bloodshed, and carnage.”  Bishop Jack Meadors 
> summed up the situation succinctly:
> 
> “The Iraq war is not just a political issue or a military issue.  /It is 
> a moral issue.”/ (emphasis added)…
> 
> Augustine wrote:
> 
> /“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage.  
> Anger that things are the way they are.  Courage to make them the way 
> they ought to be.”/
> 
> /
> /
> 
> /
> 
> *Ray McGovern* works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the 
> ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington, DC.  He is on 
> the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity 
> (VIPS). He is a contributor to _Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan and 
> Yugoslavia_ 
> <http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html>, 
> edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair (Verso).
> 
> /
> 
> 
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