Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes
No Pope is impeccable, even if, by virtue of their office, they are at times infallible – or, more precisely, a few of their statements are. Every Pope is a sinner, as well, during their life, a potential saint. Some 81 of them have been officially canonized, about one-third of the 266, so far. And most of those saints were in the Church’s first millennium. Only twelve have been canonized since the 11th century, and four of them are in the twentieth: Pius X, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II. Make of that what you will.
Hence, the title Eamon Duffy’s 2006 book, Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes, is fitting. Dr. Duffy is perhaps best known for his 1992 magnum opus on the English ‘Reformation’, The Stripping of the Altars, where the author strips away many of the historical inaccuracies – we may as well call them lies – told of this era. One of the biggest is that the English people wanted the Anglicanism that was foisted upon them by the full coercive power of the state. The precise opposite is true, as evinced by the fact that the power of the state was necessary to enforce the radical transformation, and deformation, of the so-called reformation.
His more recent work has a similar theme. Sure enough, he peels apart some of the myths told of the Popes, and what we have left are a panoply of more or less flawed men, doing in some way the work of God, even if indirectly. For the Almighty can work through a saint as well as a sinner – things just take longer, and more indirectly, with the latter. As the saying goes, God writes straight with crooked lines, as well as crooked souls. But His ultimate will is always done, in the end.
As Dr. Duffy puts it in the opening lines of his preface:
Nearly 900 million human beings, the largest single collective of people the world has ever known, look to the Pope as their spiritual leader. His office symbolizes the rule of God himself over their hearts and minds and consciences. The words of popes weigh in the halls of power, and in the bedrooms of the faithful. And the papacy is the oldest, as well as arguably the most influential, of all human institutions.
I would clarify a couple of things: There are closer to 1.2 billion Catholics in the world. And the papacy is not a human institution (even if it works through human persons), but a divine one, founded by Christ Himself, bestowed on that vessel of clay Saint Peter, a self-confess homo peccator.
There are other sections of this book with which one may quibble, but overall, this is a very valuable, as well as quite ambitious project, tracing the Popes from the very beginning, from first, Peter himself, all the way to the 265th, Benedict XVI in 2006. This second edition runs to 420 pages, exclusive of end-notes, and there is a lot packed in there, many intriguing anecdotes, allusions and connections. It is an enjoyable, fast-paced read, but much that has had to be left out. After all, the history of papacy by Ludwig von Pastor runs to 16 full volumes, and only covers the papacies from the close of the middle ages to the dawn of the 19th century, that is, Clement V (+1314) to Pius VI (+1799), a span which Dr. Duffy covers in 96 pages. That said, one does get a good sense of the whole, but I would hope that the reader is led to more intensive treatments of some of the popes, and their responses to the issues they faced.
I do wonder what Dr. Duffy might say about Pope Francis’ own controversial papacy, which, to put it mildly, has caused upheaval in the Church. Back in 2013, the then-newly installed Pope said to World Youth Day pilgrims in Rio, ‘Hagan lio!’ – ‘Make a mess!’ – and he seems to have taken his own words to heart. Mess and mayhem pretty much describe much of the ecclesia moderna in the troubled and turbulent wake of Francis.
Then again, his pontificate not yet history, so we’ll have to wait to find out Dr. Duffy’s take. I would imagine the general judgement will tell us more than even the perspicacious professor. And if the papacy can survive what we’re going through, and what is has gone through, it’s some solid proof that it’s divine.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→