Founders Journal
Book Reviews
Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit, Garry Wills, New York: Doubleday,
2000. Hardcover: 326 pages. $25.00 retail.
Reviewed by Erroll Hulse
This informative and highly readable volume is written by a well- known Roman
Catholic writer. Wills has won several awards for his books. He is adjunct professor of
history at Northwestern University in the USA. It is a crucial book because it lifts the lid and enables us to see contemporary
Roman Catholicism as it really is. It also reveals the gulf that has developed between
the majority of practicing Roman Catholics around the world and the hierarchy which
we call the curia. The book is especially important in America where many
evangelicals are divided over ECT . Wills divides his subject into two categories: historical dishonesties (11-70) and
doctrinal dishonesties (71-230). The rest of the book is devoted to the quest for truth. He introduces his subject by quoting Roman Catholic Lord Acton's famous axiom,
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton,
1834-1904, (Sir J. E. E. Alberg, First Baron Acton) was speaking of papal
absolutism. Gone are the days when a dissolute teenager could be elected Pope (John
XII of the tenth century) because of his family connections and die a decade later in
the bed of a married woman. Andrea Orcagna (c 1308-1368) painted the "Last
Judgment" and depicted the papal crown in the fires of hell telling forth the message
that the Pope is a terminal sinner damned forever (that part of Orcagna's painting
forms the dust cover of Wills' book). While sexual scandal in the higher echelons,
assassination, and Mafia-like corruption, are not typical now "there is still a gap, a
widening lacuna [lacuna: a gap or missing part] between the teaching organs in Rome
and the laity in the pew." This is important because there are large numbers of believing Catholics (some
would claim to be evangelical) who blithely ignore Rome's doctrines as Wills ably
demonstrates. These Catholics would not dream of leaving the mother Church. They
simply accept passively that there is a lot wrong with the papacy but there is nothing
they can do about it. They reason that at least their Church is the historic true
Church and therefore safer and better than Protestantism which is fragmented and
riddled with its own problems. This part of the book deals with the question of the Jews and the holocaust and
could, with profit, be read alongside the recent book by John Cornwell, Hitler's
Pope--the Secret History of Pius XII, (Viking, 430 pages, £17.99). In the latter,
Cornwell (a Catholic), points to the fact that the Catholic Church in Germany was
strong enough to have quashed the Nazi movement so that there would never have
been a Jewish holocaust. But Pope Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli, was in anti-Semitic and
in league with Hitler. Pacelli saw Hitler as a bulwark against Communism.
Cornwell's Hitler's Pope gained considerable attention in the media. Pacelli is an
embarrassment to Rome as is the whole saga of sinful silence with regard to the
disgraceful treatment of the Jews from 1933 to 1945. This is illustrated by a Roman-Jewish woman who survived Auschwitz. She asserted, "Pacelli was an anti-Semitic
Pope, a pro-German Pope. He didn't take a single risk. And when they say the Pope is
like Jesus Christ, it is not true. He did not save a single child. Nothing!" How does the Catholic Church handle this debacle? A major attempt was made to
address the issue at Vatican II. After much difficulty the following final statement
was made: Observing the above, Wills points out that it is astonishing that there is no
recognition of past persecution or any expression of sorrow and repentance. Before we make judgment ourselves I challenge you to make up a statement of how
you regard Jews. I suggest a biblical response as follows: Wills' thesis is to show how the Roman hierarchy has glossed over the Jewish
holocaust and over the Jewish question generally. Part of that gloss has been to
canonize Edith Stein, a Jewish woman who converted to Catholicism and died a
Carmelite nun in Auschwitz. Edith Stein died for no other reason than she was
Jewish. She never performed a miracle which is a condition of canonization. Wills'
concern is the use of deceit to establish good impressions to cover bad sagas. Contraception In 1968 the papacy issued an encyclical letter on contraception which Wills describes
as the most disastrous document of the century. This affected a vast number of
people. The problem with the ban on contraception is the lack of biblical authority. He
shows very well that the attempt to use the Onan passage (Genesis 38:9) to endorse
the papal position is ill-grounded and is in fact absurd. The Priesthood This is perhaps the most significant part of Wills' work as he completely dismantles
the doctrine of the Roman Catholic priesthood. He shows that there is no basis for
celibacy. He points to the fact that there is not a word in the New Testament to
support the idea consecrating the bread and wine. In fact there is no case whatsoever
for a special order of priesthood in the New Testament apart from the idea of the
priesthood of all believers. It is unpleasant reading but he goes on to show that celibacy has led to disastrous
consequences. Research endorses this. For instance in 1990 a conservative estimate
showed that about twenty percent of priests are sexually active with women at any
one time, and twenty percent of priests are homosexually active (186). Alongside this
is the problem for the Roman Catholic Church of ever diminishing numbers applying
for the priesthood. Emptying or empty and defunct monasteries and nunneries are a
world-wide phenomena. Wills' tackles the terrible widespread problem of paedophilia in the Roman Catholic
Church. The way in which this has festered and been covered up is criminal. A survey
showed that from 1983 to 1987 an average of one case a week was reported. Not one
diocese in America has been without its paedophilia case. Even worse, whole cultures
of paedophilia have been uncovered (see conspiracy of silence page 175 ff). This damaging reality is confirmed in England by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
who, in a gathering of priests on September4, 2001, made the headlines with the
claim that Christianity is almost vanquished in Britain. The cardinal spoke of the
damage and shame brought to his Church by the scandal of paedophile priests. He
said that priests, and especially bishops, had not been sufficiently aware of the
"insidious" and "pathological" nature of child abuse and had not treated all allegations
with the seriousness they merited. (Times, 6 September 2001). The cardinal simply
makes admissions but Wills, in his book, takes the lid off and what is seen inside is
horrendous! Marian Politics Wills shows that the Marian doctrines of the Catholic Church have been used to
further the agendas of the Papacy. "Modern Popes tell priests to think of themselves
as virgins consecrated to the Virgin" (204). Wills repudiates the doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception (210ff). "When the Vatican Council argued in 1859 that the
Pope was not infallible the Pope himself responded by asserting that he had already
proved his infallibility in the formula that he had defined as the Immaculate
Conception" (215). In this review I have limited myself to major issues. The author of this book is
concerned for truthfulness and that is commendable. He exposes some errors which
have caused great personal harm and damage to innumerable souls (sexual
immorality and paedophilia) and other errors of a more general character (like the
canonization of Edith Stein)--matters which have been cunningly and deceitfully
manipulated to bolster the public image of Rome. There is disappointment in this
volume inasmuch as the author has no idea of the saving power of the gospel
(justification by faith alone). He stoutly rejects the doctrine of substitutionary
atonement (307). The book is valuable for the information which has been researched
and documented. The author's grasp of history is excellent. Sadly the spiritual thrust
of his writing is minimal.
Historical dishonesties--the holocaust
True, authorities of the Jews and those who followed their lead pressed for
the death of Christ (cf. John 19:6); still, what happened in his passion cannot
be blamed upon all the Jews then living, without distinction, or upon the Jews
of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not
be presented as repudiated or cursed by God, as if such a view followed from
the holy Scripture--Besides, as the Church has always held and continues to
hold, Christ in his boundless love freely underwent his passion and death
because of the sins of all men, so that all might attain salvation (25).
It is clear from the events of the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in AD
70 that the wrath of God did fall on that generation of Jews responsible for the
rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. It may well be that the 40 Jewish leaders
who swore that they would not eat or drink until they had killed the apostle
Paul (Acts 23:12) themselves perished in the obliteration of Jerusalem in AD
70. In 1 Thessalonians 2:16 we read, "The wrath of God has come upon them
at last." Yet we do not exult in that but rather weep with Jesus who saw the
AD 70 disaster and described it (Luke 19:41-44). The attitude that we should
cherish for all Jews, wherever they may be found, is that expressed by the
apostle Paul in Romans 9:1-5. The Nazi movement was diabolical and the
holocaust was part of that wickedness. As believers we are utterly opposed to
the persecution or victimization of any part of the human race. We oppose
racism whatever its form.
Doctrinal Dishonesties