by Robert McClory
It is difficult not to regard the Vatican's plans to beatify together two popes, Pius IX and John XXIII, on the same day, Sept. 3, as a cruel and cynical joke. Rarely in history have there been two important figures more contradictory in vision and outlook. Pius: the determined zealot seeking to expand his power and prestige, the angry raiser of barricades against the intrusions of the outside world, the major force in creating a centralized papacy immune to criticism. And John: the gentle prescriber of "the medicine of mercy," the joyful opener of windows to the outside world, the courageous believer in the fundamental goodness of the human family.
What on earth possessed Pope John Paul II and the Curia to propose these two men simultaneously as admirable examples of Christian virtue and models for the Church of the 21st century? One could argue, in fact, that John's major goal as pope was to undo the horrid legacy of his predecessor, Pius IX.
Among the rulings of Pius IX during his 32-year reign, the longest in papal history: Human beings are not free to follow their conscience and embrace the religion which they believe to be true. The secular government should be joined with the Church to enforce the Church's edicts and regulations. The Catholic religion should be promoted by the government as the only true religion to the exclusion of all other forms of worship. The pope cannot and should not reconcile himself to modern life or come to terms with progress or liberalism in any form.
It was Pius who kidnapped a six-year-old Jewish boy (because a servant claimed she had baptized him without his parents' awareness) and had him raised as a Catholic, despite international outrage and protest. And it was Pius who branded Jews as "money-lusting enemies of Christ and Christianity."
It was he who, through his Holy Office, declared (after the American Civil War) that "slavery itself is not contrary to the natural and divine law." It was also Pius who assured the world that "Catholic dogma states that nobody outside the Catholic Church can be saved."
And it was, of course, Pius IX who summoned the First Vatican Council in order to have himself declared infallible. Scholars describe him as at best manipulative and at worst as crazily fanatical in his effort to wrest from the bishops of the world a definition that would grant him a charism of infallibility separate from anything or anyone in this world, including bishops and ecumenical councils. And he very nearly got it when the badgered council fathers in full session called papal definitions "irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church." But balanced interpreters like John Henry Newman argued that he had not gotten an independent infallibility. Newman said, "There is a limit to the tyrannical," and he urged Catholics to "have faith" until "a new pope and a re-assembled council may trim the boat."
Vatican II, the legacy of John XXIII, did indeed trim the boat. It contradicted Pius in every respect. It stated, "This Vatican synod declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all … are to be immune from coercion or to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs … Religious bodies have the right not to be hindered in their public teaching and witness to their faith; everyone ought to refrain from any manner of action which might seem to carry a hint of coercion." The council recognized "what is true and holy" in non-Christian religions and saw in their rules and teachings "a ray of the truth which enlightens all."
And Vatican II began the task of redefining papal power when it insisted that pope and bishops together form "one apostolic college," and that the pope is not an absolute monarch who can operate as he sees fit. In fact, noted Vatican II, it is "the body of the faithful as a whole" which "cannot err in matters of belief" and is therefore the principal font of infallibility. The task has continued since Vatican II and will continue well into the 21st century. But it will not be aided by those who attempt to pour the new wine of John XXIII into the raggedy old wineskins of Pius IX. That is precisely what the combined beatification of the two seeks to do. And every thinking Catholic — and interested non-Catholic — ought to scream in protest.
 |
Bob McClory researched Pius IX while writing "Power and the Papacy: the People and Politics Behind the Doctrine of Infallibility," (Triumph, 1997). At CTA Conference 2000, he will speak from his newest book, "Faithful Dissenters: Stories of Men and Women Who Loved and Changed the Church." |