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and a Catholic.
In a recent article in The New Republic (May 27, 2010)
he discusses the sins of the Catholic Church
and why he remains in that Church.
He criticizes the Church's "policy of keeping things
within the family" and its warped view that
priests have been the victims of the media's
obsession with scandals.
(Priests--the victims?)
Several years ago Garry Wills wrote a book
entitled Papal Sin.
He says that the idea for the book
was spurred on by researching Lord Acton's
collected historical writings.
Acton was a lifelong Catholic.
He was a harsh critic of Vatican I (1870)
which was the occasion for proclaiming
Papal Infallibility.
In 1887 Acton wrote a review of
Mandell Creighton's book, The History of the Papacy,
criticizing Mandell for whitewashing papal crimes.
Mandell responded with his criticism
of Acton's review.
That led Lord Acton to write a letter back
to Mandell which contains the famous quote:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.Until I read Wills' article I wasn't aware
that Lord Acton's famous line
was related to Papal power.
Wills goes on to express his view that
Catholicism cannot be equated with the Pope.
He says quite frankly, "The [office of] Pope
is a freak of history."
Peter was not a Pope.
There are no priests in the New Testament.
Paul criticized Peter for not understanding
the message of Jesus.
Wills notes that in the early history of the Church,
bishops were not selected by the Pope,
but were elected by the people in the pews.
But in the Middle Ages the Pope took on
the role of a monarch, with his own territories
and armies.
So, Wills says he remains a Catholic
because he is a disciple of Jesus,
and the Church belongs to Jesus,
not to the Pope or the hierarchy.
He urges other Catholics to stay in the Church
and try to reform it.
Wills refers to Matthew 25.41: "Whatever
you did to any of my brothers,
even the lowliest,
you did to me."
That means, says Wills, that the priests
abusing the vulnerable young
were doing that to Jesus, raping Jesus.
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