VICARS OF CHRIST: The Dark Side of the Papacy

by Peter De Rosa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 3, 1988

De Rosa (Prayers for Pagans and Hypocrites, Father Under Fire, etc.), who calls himself a ""patriotic Catholic,"" assumes the mantle of devil's advocate for this exhaustive, ferocious indictment of sin in the papacy. Citing Lord Acton on the dangers of absolutism, De Rosa snaps angrily at perceived abuses of papal power--papal infallibility, Vatican riches, etc.--before settling down to a long, rigorous, impassioned history of papal inequities. Many pontiffs were ""libertines, murderers, adulterers, warmongers, tyrants, simoniacs,"" among them John XII, who liked to toast the Devil and kept a harem in the papal palace; John XXII, who ""burned the poorest of Christ's poor and died the richest man in the world""; and the first John XXIII, a ""mass-murderer"" and ""mass-fornicator."" Turning from physical to ideological corruption, De Rosa tracks the Church's penchant for muzzling dissent, from early persecutions of the Jews through the trial of Galileo to John Paul II's censuring of dissident theologians Kung and Schillebeeckx. Controversial recent Church teachings--the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, Humanae Vitae, right-to-life arguments--are scrutinized with an eye for contradiction and hypocrisy. Here, too, the Popes take their lumps: Pins XI was ""capable of squaring the circle,"" Paul VI is sarcastically referred to as ""Hamlet."" The only pontiff to avoid De Rosa's fulminations is John XXIII, whom he venerates with high-pitched praise as ""a rainbow in the night."" Brilliant scholarship, sinewy writing, and blazing moral fervor will not overcome the objections of some who will accuse De Rosa, an ex-Jesuit, of fermenting sour grapes. Others (including some anti-Catholics) will savor this like fine wine. Whatever the palate, no one will mistake this very potent brew for soda pop.

Pub Date: Feb. 3, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION