The Dictator Pope

This is a blog post about a fairly shocking review (shocking even for me) of the recently released work entitled “The Dictator Pope”, by Robert Royal. Royal is Editor in Chief of “The Catholic Thing” publication, which, according to its own mission statement, is a “series of columns” about “the concrete historical reality of Catholicism – … the richest cultural tradition in the world”: The only thing it intends to express is:

… is a loyalty to Catholicity. Our more learned readers may recall that the original Greek meaning of Catholicity is universality, in the sense that what is Catholic gives proper weight to all truths. Our writers all share that commitment, but, as writers do, we will no doubt also take differing positions. Our mission is to bring the best Catholic thought and action into the public square, not to favor politicians or parties.

It is a thoroughly conservative and intellectual treatment of Roman Catholicism. So imagine my surprise when I saw the smiling photo of Pope Bergoglio (nearby), under the moniker “Dictator Pope”. Of course, Royal had noted long ago, that “All our writers’ opinions are their own”. But in this case, it is Royal’s “private judgment” that this book provides “abundant evidence” that “the head of the Church himself does not feel bound by the tradition or impartial laws he has inherited…”

Here are a few samples:

The parts of this story I know best – the Synods on the family that I reported on daily from Rome for TCT – are absolutely reliable. We know, for example, that Pope Francis was quite willing to openly manipulate the Synods by personally appointing supporters of the Kasper Proposal and that he even intervened personally at key points, changing procedures and instructing the bishops about where their deliberations should start – and end.

When Francis cares about something – as Colonna shows – he makes it happen, whatever the opposition (at the Synods, it was considerable). There’s a clear pattern of behavior, whatever uncertainties remain. On the divorced and remarried, the environment, immigrants, “Islamophobia,” the poor, the pope is relentless....

Then there’s the gay mafia. People forget that the occasion for Francis’ famous remark “Who am I to judge?” was not a general comment about homosexuality. It was in response to a question about Msgr. Battista Ricca, who was involved in several notorious homosexual scandals, some right across the river from Buenos Aires in Uruguay. Nonetheless, right after the 2013 papal election, he became the pope’s “eyes and ears” at the Vatican Bank and director of the Casa Santa Marta, where Francis resides.

And then there’s the troubling, casual resurrection of figures like Cardinal Gottfried Daneels, once thoroughly discredited for his support for contraception, divorce, gay marriage, even euthanasia and abortion – and outrageous mishandling of priestly abuse. But he stood with Francis on the balcony of St. Peter’s right after the conclave and read the prayer for the new pope at his inauguration. He was also one of the ringers Francis personally invited to bolster his case at the Synods.

Then there’s the appointment of another radical, Archbishop Paglia, to head the “reformed” John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family. In a remarkably naked authoritarian move, the pope substituted himself for Cardinal Sarah for the institute’s opening academic address in 2016, and spoke of “a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage.” You have to believe that Cardinal Marx was expressing the truth when he said, at the end of the synods, that it was just the beginning.

The least satisfactory part of this book for me is the account of how the “St. Gallen Group” – one of its own members called it a “mafia” – which met to plan opposition to St. JPII and Joseph Ratzinger, identified Jorge Bergoglio as a future papal candidate. He had no global visibility until he gave the concluding address at the 2001 Synod on the role of bishops. NYC’s Cardinal Edward Egan was supposed to do that but stayed home because 9/11 had just happened. The address impressed the synod fathers for its fairness to both sides. Colonna reveals, however, that it was entirely the work of a Synod secretary/speechwriter, Msgr. Daniel Emilio Estivill. We need to know more about how things went, from then to now.

I always thought Bergoglio had an agenda, but the agenda outlined here is shocking, even for a person who has written the things that I have written about.