The Battle For The Soul Of The Catholic Church
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Who are the seven popes discussed in 'Jesus Wept'?
This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. We in the media regularly cover the decisions of powerful leaders in government and business and how they affect our lives. My guest today, veteran investigative reporter Philip Sheenan, has spent much of the last 10 years examining the impact of seven powerful men who've exercised a different kind of authority. They're the last seven popes of the Catholic Church, whose intense power struggles and doctrinal debates affect more than a billion Catholics in countless ways. Whether they can use birth control or get an abortion or divorce and remain in good standing in the faith, Whether priests must forever remain unmarried and celibate, a rule with little biblical authority that fuels a drastic shortage of priests and leaves millions unable to regularly attend Mass or receive sacraments. Whether same-sex couples can be accepted in the church. And whether sexual predators will be stopped and held accountable.
Sheenan's book is the story of a bold attempt to reform the church in the early 1960s and decades of backsliding that followed under pontiffs more comfortable with conservative traditions and power concentrated in the Vatican. Philip Sheenan spent more than 20 years at the New York Times covering the Pentagon, the Justice Department, the State Department, and Congress. His two previous books focused on the 9-11 investigation and unanswered questions about the Kennedy assassination. His new book is Jesus Wept, Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church. Philip Sheenan, welcome back to Fresh Air.
Dave, thanks for having me.
What was Pope Pius XII's relationship with Nazi Germany?
He is known for not having spoken out against Nazi crimes despite substantial evidence that he was aware of them. But there's even more. You tell a story in the book which was new to me of this Pope Pius before he was pope, when he was an archbishop in Munich, meeting personally with a then rising Adolf Hitler. What happened here?
I think it's fair to say that Pacelli loved Germany more than he loved his homeland, Italy.
Pacelli being the name of the cardinal before he became pope, yeah.
Right. And he is the Vatican's diplomatic representative to Bavaria and later to Germany for a dozen years after World War I. And he, in Germany, becomes much more alarmed about the potential rise of Marxist than fascist. And the story told by his former housekeeper is that he meets with Hitler in the diplomatic residence in Munich and hands him an envelope stuffed with cash that he wants Hitler to use to campaign against Marxists in Germany. And the housekeeper and certainly others around Pius over the decades believed that his love of Germany affected much of his decision-making and led to this decision throughout World War II to remain silent about the Holocaust.
This housekeeper, Sister Pascalina Leonard, it turns out was a very close advisor of Pius and wrote these interesting diaries. And it said that she actually advised him to speak out against the Nazis during World War II when all this was happening, right?
It's fascinating to discover her because there's reason to believe that this nun, Sister Pascalina Leonard, this sort of tough-willed barbarian nun, may have been one of the most influential women in the history of the Catholic Church. She was very close to Pius for decades. She was his housekeeper, but she also seems to have been a close advisor. And she tells the story. There's some dispute about Pius. what she says about Pius, but she tells a Boston newspaperman that throughout the war, she pressed Pius to speak out against Nazi Germany, to protest the Holocaust, and Pius would not give in to her pressure. There's also reason to believe that she had a hand in saving thousands of lives in Rome, the lives of Roman Jews.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who are the seven popes discussed in 'Jesus Wept'?
0:18–2:16
2
What was Pope Pius XII's relationship with Nazi Germany?
2:16–6:38
3
How did Pope John XXIII initiate reforms in the Catholic Church?
6:38–10:57
4
Why was priestly celibacy a controversial issue at Vatican II?
10:57–16:29
5
What was the Catholic Church's stance on birth control during Vatican II?
16:29–19:34
6
How did Vatican II change the language of Catholic Mass?
19:34–21:49
7
What was the Catholic Church's historical view of other faiths?
21:49–27:08
8
Why did subsequent popes resist reforms initiated by Vatican II?
27:08–49:47
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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