Vertrauensverlust

Long have I wondered whether I should live to see the final prophecy of St Malachi come about. Is it possible that Maladict, sorry, Benedict XVI is indeed the last ever Pope? In the saint’s future chronology, none follow him, save Petrus Romanus, whose destiny is to destroy the Church forever... but apparently this figure was added in the nineteenth century. According to the original list, the present Pope is the last Supreme Pontiff the Catholic Church is ever to have.
Well, nothing Papa Ratzi has done so far has led me to believe St Malachi was wide of the mark. But the decision today to have a denier of the Holocaust ordained as a bishop really is a classic, even by Maladict’s sterling standards.
I have been following this story for the past couple of weeks, via the BBC’s excellent Sunday programme, which I highly recommend, actually. It’s broadcast at 7am on Sunday morning - crazy early for me, although I’m well aware it’s on at that time so that pious folk (its intended audience) can listen to it over breakfast before heading off to church. There is, fortunately, a weekly podcast, though.
The editorial line seems to be strictly C of E and so it can get a bit All Gas and Gaiters at times, devoting substantial coverage to Lambeth Palace, Synods and Archbishops’ meetings, but it still has some of the best ethical interviews and debates on any channel for my money.
Anyway, they were well ahead of the major news-sources on this story, covering it anxiously last week, and doing a very good follow-up this morning. The understanding was that in the reordination of Bishop Williamson, the Pope was more interested in Catholic unity than in either what anyone inside the Church had to say about it, or in the feelings of those outside it, especially among the Jewish community. But nothing that Roger Bolton and his ecclesiastical guests said, though, quite prepared me for the reaction on today’s Der Spiegel website:

Empörung über den Papst
Vatikan-Diplomaten kehren Benedikts Scherben zusammen
“Katastrophe”, “Vertrauensverlust”, “Unsensibilität”: Mit der Rehabilitierung eines Holocaust-Leugners hat der Papst seine Kirche blamiert, die Reaktionen sind verheerend.
Der Vatikan will nun retten, was an Glaubwürdigkeit noch übrig ist.
Doch der katholische Fels bröckelt bereits...

Outrage at the Pope
Vatican diplomats are sweeping up the fragments after Benedict’s shattering action.
“A disaster,” “a loss of confidence”, “insensitivity”: with the rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier, the Pope has disgraced his Church, and the reactions are devastating.
The Vatican now wants to save whatever credibility it still has left.
But the Catholic rock is crumbling already...

That word Vertrauensverlust is especially interesting because it could also be interpreted as ‘crisis of faith’ in a religious context. Spiegel is clear, this is a decision that actually threatens the continuing faith of Catholic believers. Of course, although Sunday took this story seriously, their strict C of E perspective blinded them to the seriousness of the story. It’s about the Pope so it’s foreign news. Thus they reported it as they might an item about Islam or Judaism. In a country with a substantial Catholic population, like Germany, it has another weight altogether. I don’t believe I have ever seen such language from the sombre and serious Der Spiegel on a subject like this, and certainly not about the Pope.
Needless to say, the Italian press have been covering the story too, although with more measured language. See:
Rompere i rapporti con il Vaticano

...while in France, government minister Christine Boutin has also condemned the move:
Boutin condamne le négationnisme, pas la main tendue aux intégristes

I am reminded of Dr Johnson’s comment that one who converted away from Catholicism was likely to suffer ‘lacerations of the mind’ and can’t help but wonder that this might be a reasonable description of what a great many Catholics across Europe must be feeling right now.