Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 3:03pm

PopeWatch: Sheer Incompetence

 

 

George Weigel at The Catholic Report notes that the powers that be at the Vatican are not noted for their competence:

 

On occasion, however, that can be a journey through the looking glass and into Wonderland.

Last month, Civilta Cattolicà featured an article co-authored by its editor-in-chief, Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, and Pastor Marcelo Figueroa, who edits the Argentine edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. The article purported to analyze a startling “ecumenism of hate” in the United States, forged by ultra-conservative Catholics and evangelical Protestants, and creepy-dangerous for its indulgence in a new Manicheanism that distorts the Gospel and divides everything in the world into rigid and narrowly-defined categories of good and evil. This bizarre screed generated weeks of controversy in the blogosphere, during which Father Spadaro tweeted that the article’s critics were “haters” whose vitriol confirmed the article’s hypothesis – a Trumpian outburst ill-becoming a paladin of “dialogue.”

My friends and colleagues R.R. Reno, Robert Royal, and Fr. Raymond de Souza have ably replied to the comprehensive inanities of the Spadaro/Figueroa article: its ill-informed misrepresentation of American religious history; its surreal descriptions of 21st-century American Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism; its obsessions with marginal figures in contemporary American religious life like R.J. Rushdoony and Michael Voris; its misreading of the dynamics of religiously-informed public moral argument in American politics; and its weird description of the premises of current Vatican diplomacy, which will give comfort to the likes of Vladimir Putin, Raul Castro, and Nicolas Maduro. Those who care to sift through this intellectual dumpster can consult Dr. Reno’s article, Dr. Royal’s, and Fr. De Souza’s. The questions I’d like to raise here involve Civilta Cattolicà’s relationship to its putative overseers in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

What kind of vetting did this misbegotten article get? Were any knowledgeable experts on U.S. Catholicism or American evangelical Protestantism  consulted on what the overseers must have known would be an incendiary piece? Does the Spadaro/Figueroa article really represent the views of the Secretariat of State about today’s debates at the intersection of religion and politics in the United States? If the answer to the last is “Yes,” then what does the Secretariat of State make of the American situation as described by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christoph Pierre, in his addresses to the U.S. bishops – a description that bears no resemblance to the wasteland of madcap pseudo-theology and hatred described by Spadaro and Figueroa? If the answer is “No,” then why was the Spadaro/Figueroa article cleared for publication?

Go here to read the rest.  Why was the article cleared for publication?  Malice and ignorance come to mind.  Let’s face facts.  The Pope is not a man known for his intellect, to put things politely, and he is known for having a very long enemy’s list, as demonstrated by the fact that he is the first Pope to have an insult generator crafted from some of his choice villifications.  The Vatican tends to reflect the Pope.  Don’t blame the minions and ignore their master.

 

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Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Friday, August 4, AD 2017 3:52am

Now why in the world would the authors of that article consult experts on anything American? Does anyone really think Spadoro and Figueroa give a damn about accuracy or facts? For anyone who does think that, boy have I got a deal for you on oceanfront property in Kansas.

No, Francis is not known for his intellect. But you normally need at least one doctorate to be able to reach the level of ridiculousness Pope Francis does on a regular basis. And he has what, maybe a graduate degree at best?

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Friday, August 4, AD 2017 5:07am

LQC puts it best. Papa Bergoglio is a Peronist Marxist devoid of an intellect capable of critical thinking. Cardinal Burke was one of the authors of the Dubia. Cardinal Wuerl despises Cardinal Burke and Papa Bergoglio listens to Wuerl when he wants to.

Don L
Don L
Friday, August 4, AD 2017 7:25am

Dividing everything into rigid categories of “good and evil” is now bad. Pope Francis eschews publically–those who see things in black and white, while JPII instructs us to call black, black, white, white, and to call sin, sin. It is the later category that bothers those who prefer the flexibility of the diabolical world of relativistic greys.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, August 4, AD 2017 10:18am

Except for the idiom, it read like sorsophere talking points. Frankenchurch is an entity suffering from injelitence. Peter’s Pence goes to the maintenance of displays of the Peter Principle.

The Deuce
The Deuce
Friday, August 4, AD 2017 7:26pm

Manicheanism is wrong, but not because it makes a clear distinction between good and evil, but rather because it casts individuals as purely good or evil, effectively casting all human disputes as cosmic confrontations pure and faultless angels against wholly reprobate demons.

But it is unambiguously the Left that does this, casting anyone who doesn’t fit perfectly into their increasingly tiny misshapen mold as a “Nazi,” “racist,” “white nationalist,” “homophobe,” etc. And this has always been the case with the Left, which always divides people into groups of virtuous and faultless “victims” and their unremittingly evil “oppressors” who must be cast down.

“Father” Spadaro engaged in this Manicheanism himself, even while accusing others of it, by dismissing all of his critics out of hand as nothing more than “haters,” who allegedly driven by nothing more than pure unreasoning malice as they are, don’t even need to be debated or to have their arguments addressed.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Saturday, August 5, AD 2017 3:07am

” Don’t blame the minions and ignore their master.” Good point Donald for George Weigel to note. It would appear George needs a reality check (courage) in his evident inability (fear?) to describe who Pope Francis really is.

TxTradCatholic
TxTradCatholic
Monday, August 7, AD 2017 7:32am

Amen to that, Michael Dowd. Weigel is probably afraid to offend the neo-cons who write his paychecks. It is beyond me how anyone who is actually paying attention (admittedly a very small minority) could fail to see the truth here.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, August 7, AD 2017 8:01am

Weigel is probably afraid to offend the neo-cons who write his paychecks.

Or, maybe he just writes what he thinks. Pretty silly to imagine he’s controlled by the ghost of Irving Kristol.

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