Francis in Washington -- Part I

[devifemme]

I'm not pretending to report to you lovely readers about the Pope's US visit -- you're getting a good picture from the media, which I cannot do nearly as effectively as they are doing. However, I do want to share a few sidelights and personal thoughts that may enliven your own impressions

Comments

Absolutely!

[devifemme]

Gary, thank you for these really APT comments. Your dad's timing -- as my mom's -- surely reflect the Church during its post-WWII, pre-VaticanII nadir. Albeit much less harmed than, say, the innocents who suffered priests' sexual abuse (which continued well after Vatican II), we're small-scale victims of that epoch.

Francis is doing what he can to abolish their institutional mal- and mis-feasance, but self-serving entities like the Curia and Vatican Bank are all too capable of resisting change. And, if change really happens, it's going to take a major world-level apology for ALL the wrongs perpetuated by the 20th-century Church before I could even CONSIDER going back. And that, for better or worse, ain't gonna happen.

Do you know the books on the Vatican by an American named Gary Wills? One called "Papal Sins" (sic!) has the whole history from the mid-19th century, including the role of a well-known Brit, Lord Acton, who coined his famous aphorism "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" for the godawful Pope Innocent III in the 1860s. (Joanne was a docent at a small Washington museum several years ago; they hosted Wills on the occasion of launching his book -- and we got to spend some time with him.)

RE: Absolutely!

[devifemme]

Gary -- just replied to your response to my second post on the Pope's visit, but wondered if you had, in fact, heard of Garry Wills's take on Catholic Church history. BTW: yes, he spells it differently than you do...