Sunday, February 06, 2005
The Pope's Legacy: A view from the left
From my home town paper: The Pope's Legacy. The article seemed to draw a contrast about how Pope John Paul II worked for Freedom and Democracy all over the world EXCEPT in the Vatican. In fact, the article tries to link the Pope's failing to make women equal to men in the Vatican to the sex-abuse problems... I will read it closer and spend more time later.
Later: It wasn't clear to me, reading the article by James Carroll, just where he leaves off reviewing John Cornwell's "The Pontiff in Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II" and John Peter Phan's "Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession" and where Carroll instead is offering his own opinions. In this paragraph, for example:
Update: Jeremy Lott reviews the reviewer. (Hat Tip, Amy Welborn)
Later: It wasn't clear to me, reading the article by James Carroll, just where he leaves off reviewing John Cornwell's "The Pontiff in Winter: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II" and John Peter Phan's "Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession" and where Carroll instead is offering his own opinions. In this paragraph, for example:
The conventional assessment of John Paul II contrasts the pope’s liberalizing work outside Catholicism with his profoundly anti-liberal governance of the Church itself. Thus his support of pro-democracy movements against totalitarian regimes stands in stark relief to the rigid authoritarianism with which he has squelched not only theological dissent but also the regional autonomy of bishops (which, in part, accounts for the bishops’ grievous failure to act against priestly abuse of children).I'm not sure Carroll is reviewing a book, or stating his own beliefs.
Update: Jeremy Lott reviews the reviewer. (Hat Tip, Amy Welborn)
