Pope
Benedict’s record
Develop healthy skepticism of media reports
Bishop Salvatore Cordileone |
By Bishop Salvatore Cordileone
Persecution is no stranger to the Church. In every age,
the Church — which in our Catholic piety we rightfully refer to
as our “Holy Mother” — has somewhere, in some way, been
subject to persecution. Our Lord foretold that it would be this way for
his followers: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me
first” (Jn 15:18).
On the other hand, Church leaders and other prominent Catholics certainly
are not exempt from mistakes and wrong-doing. We cannot dismiss all criticism
as unjust or unfair. We all need to look to the ongoing purification of
our minds, hearts, motives and desires, echoing the classic Latin maxim
of the Church always standing in need of reform: Ecclesia semper reformanda.
That having been admitted, though, it is no exaggeration to say that criticisms
of the Church in more recent years, in the form of revisionist history,
have gone way beyond the inordinate, practically painting the Catholic
Church as unilaterally responsible for perpetrating the lion’s share
of historical evils.
The usual litany of indictments — the Crusades, the role of the
Church in World War II (and especially that of Pope Pius XII), the Inquisition,
the Galileo affair, and the question of slavery, to name the more popular
ones — are typically either wildly exaggerated or patently false.
Moreover, such attacks often constitute an attempt to weaken and marginalize
the Church, especially by sowing seeds of doubt and division among her
members, thereby advancing an agenda opposed to her moral principles.
Space does not allow for an in-depth treatment of all this, but to cite
just one example: In his research on the Pope Pius XII question, Church
historian Msgr. Stephen DiGiovanni has demonstrated that false accusations
of his “complicity” with the Nazis began to circulate already
toward the end of the Second World War as a propaganda ploy by the Soviet
Union to discredit the Church, which stood as a fierce obstacle to its
imperialistic ambitions.
As distressing as it is, then, we should not be surprised that the exact
same thing is happening now to our current Holy Father, Pope Benedict
XVI. I urge our people to develop a healthy skepticism of the mainstream
media’s treatment of the then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s tenure
as Archbishop of Munich and Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith (CDF), and instead turn to reliable sources.
Two such sources have recently become available. One is an article by
Pope Benedict’s successor as the Prefect of the CDF, our own Cardinal
William Levada (former archbishop of San Francisco), in which he recounts
in a calm and cogent manner, and in contrast to what certain journalists
would have us believe, the truth of Pope Benedict’s record. The
full text of his article is available at: http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_card-levada2010_en.html.
The other is an interview with the Promoter of Justice of the same Congregation,
Msgr. Charles Scicluna. Since 2001, cases of clergy sexual abuse throughout
the world have been reserved to the CDF, and, as the Promoter of Justice,
it has been Msgr. Scicluna’s duty to review every case reported
and suggest how it should be handled.
In this candid interview, Msgr. Scicluna separates fact from fiction about
the Church’s handling of this heinous crime. The interview is available
at SciclunaInterview.pdf.
It is in times such as these that we must take strength from Christ’s
promise to stand with his Church to the end and that the gates of hell
will not prevail against her (Mt 16:18), while at the same time renew
our resolve to pursue the path of ongoing conversion, especially by reconciling
with those whom we have offended.
Let us also keep Pope Benedict in our prayers in an especially fervent
way at this time, taking consolation in the truth of the words with which
Vatican radio begins and ends every broadcast: “Christ reigns. Christ
conquers. Christ rules.”
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