Salon: The bully pope (by Colman McCarthy)

[regnaD kciN]

I single this out specifically because Colman McCarthy was one of the leading Roman Catholic writers and peace activists in this country during the post-Vatican-II era. As a liberal, I'm not too surprised that he would have his misgivings over JPII's pontificate, but I am surprised he would put it this forcefully. The information about the Vatican's investigation of Archbishop Romero prior to his assassination is new to me; however, I've often noted that JPII's Vatican maintained a dismaying silence about Romero or the four Maryknoll workers raped and murdered by right-wing death squads in El Salvador. JPII has a reputation of tireless campaigner for "human rights." I can only wonder, did that only apply to human rights in Communist countries, or at least countries not under the control of right-wing Roman Catholics?

In 1980 John Paul had other troublesome priests on his hit list. Archbishop Oscar Romero was one. A former conservative who moved to the liberation-theology left when he saw up close the poor killing the poor in El Salvador, Romero was under surveillance by the Vatican. Jonathan Kwitny, a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter and author of "Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II," wrote that the pope "was disturbed about Romero." Cardinals in the Vatican plotted to reassign Romero elsewhere in Latin America. Days after Romero's March 24, 1980, murder, John Paul telegrammed the president of the Salvadoran Episcopal Conference to express grief at the "sacrilegious assassination." "Not one word of praise," wrote Kwitny, was offered "for the slain archbishop." Speaking to crowds in St. Peter's Square, the pope then expressed heartfelt grief for Catholic martyrs -- in Chad, not El Salvador. Kwitny wrote: "John Paul's treatment of Archbishop Romero, and his continued treatment of Romero's memory, are an injustice like no other he has done anyone."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/04/08/pope/index.html

[Maple]

1. The first

genuinely revealing photo I've ever seen.