documenting the abuse of authority in the Catholic Church

The Pope and his Vatican staff indiscriminately usurp all power in the Church

The Pope plays a central role in the Church. He has genuine authority in guiding the People of God.

However, the present Vatican administration has assumed an almost complete monopoly on key decision making in all vital areas of Church life, as if genuine authority does not rest with others too.

Example: the history of Humanae Vitae

On 25 July 1968 Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical 'Humanae Vitae' [Latin for Human Life] on "the Regulation of Birth". The encyclical restated traditional principles and, among other things, declared that the use of contraceptives was wrong in all circumstances and could never be justified 'because it goes counter to natural law'. It has caused immense confusion, opposition, intense suffering and alienation in the Catholic community.

The following TV presentation by Edward Stourton on the BBC documents the history of the encyclical: a mixture of commitment to key morality and of distrust of professional experts whether clerical or lay. Instead of real consultation, a group of Vatican traditionalists manipulated the process so that their own hard-line views came to be imposed on the faithful.

We owe this online presentation to the excellent Australian Catholica website (www.catholica.com.au) and we will be streaming the video from their website.
Click on the following image and click again when the opening page appears!

Online documentation

• Incredible Infallibility Claim by Pope Benedict XVI
• Papal Power by Paul Collins, a book that we have in its entirety on our website.

  1. Does the Church equal the pope, and the pope equal the Church?
  2. How the pope became the infallible head of the Church
  3. The infallible and absolute monarch of the Church
  4. Papalism triumphant: John Paul II
  5. Where do we go from here?
  6. The problem of primacy
  7. The need for a new general council
• Pope John Paul II recently beatified Pope Pius IX (1848 – 1878) in spite of the man's condemnation of religious freedom, freedom of conscience, socialism, democracy and the emancipation of slaves. This action was fully supported by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who was then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Donum Veritatis, the Roman ‘Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian’ was written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the present Pope. This document makes the papal and curial magisterium the final norm of truth.
• ‘How Binding? “Ordinatio sacerdotalis” unleashes debate on the Magisterium’, by Klaus Nientiedt (1996).
• Women's Ordination and Infallibility, by Hans Kueng (1995).
• Guideposts from Catholic tradition. Infallibility doctrine invoked in statement against ordination by Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by Francis Sullivan (1995).
• Infallibility and the Ordination of Women, by Richard Gaillardetz (1996).
• Women’s Ordination and Infallible Teaching, An Inquiry. Was the Teaching Infallible?, by Peter Burns (1997).
• Deficiencies of the Church’s present Leadership, by Bishop Reinholdt Stecher (1998).
• Infallibility Explored, by Joseph Ratzinger (1999).
• ‘Infallibility Explored’ – Professor Orsy replies, by Ladislas Orsy (1999).
• Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI, by Roger de Borger (2010)
• The Torch of Renewal : The snare has been broken , and we have escaped (Psalm 124.7), Hermann Haering, (2010)
• Pope Benedict removes a Bishop for speaking about women's ordination, Bishop William Morris, (2011)
• Catholic of Course, Prof Dr Angela Berlis, (2010)
• Kung urges peaceful revolution against roman absolutism at ACC conference
• The Modern Theology of Tradition, J P. Mackey , 1962, ch. 3&4. A comprehensive survey of theological views on the 'Sensus fidelium'.
• The Final Battles of Pope Benedict XVI, An article that appeared in the German Newspaper, Der Spiegel'.
• Theologians and the Magisterium, by Richard A. McCormick. From Corrective Vision, Explorations in Moral Theology, Sheed & Ward, 1994, Chapter 7.

Books about this in print or online

• Bernard Hoose (ed.), Authority in the Roman Catholic Church. Theory & Practice, Ashgate 2002.

Changes and Mistakes made by Popes in the Past

There has been a long history of popes making claims that have since been overruled.

Online documentation

• Mistakes by the Teaching Authority in Rome – a short list of examples.
• The Errors of Pope Pius IX, including his condemnation of the right to freedom of conscience, which echoes a pronouncement by his predeccessor, Gregory XVI. Later Church pronouncements correcting his views are given alongside the examples that are highlighted.
• Shedding Light on Church Teachings. A report on a conversation with Bishop Raymond A. Lucker in which he categorises levels of teaching authority and lists subjects on which the views of the church have changed
  One of the best examples is Biblical criticism. The church once taught that you couldn’t read Scripture in the light of its historical and cultural context. Well, we suffered under that for at least 75 years until Pius XII issued his famous encyclical on biblical studies and opened up the Scriptures to modern scholarship.
  
• Council of Constance 1414-1418, in the face of the scandal of three men all claiming to be the one true pope, needed to establish the authority of ecumenical Councils.

Books about this in print

• Rome has Spoken. A Guide to Forgotten Papal Statements, and How They Have Changed through the Centuries, ed. Maureen Fiedler and Linda Rabben, Crossroad publ., 1998.

For a new vision, see: Authority in the Catholic Church