To refresh your memories, I reprint a piece I wrote when an earlier electronic edition of the Dictator Pope was published under a pseudonym: Marcantonio Colonna.
I do think that this is a very important book. At the present moment, the papacy is more dominant that it ever has been before, its iron grip on the Church strengthened by the mechanisms of the instant world-wide Media. Inevitably and properly, the person and personality of the pontiff himself are subjected to detailed scrutiny, especially when it appears that we are going to have yet more 'surprises of the Spirit' sprung upon us.
This book brings together pretty well everything which can currently be known about PF. I suspect that Marcantonio Colonna is a trained historian, so you will find in his book not only a wealth of information about the rise of PF, but a subtle analysis of the cultural background which has formed him. Have you ever wondered what people have in mind when they say "PF's Peronism accounts for it all"? Dr Colonna will explain to you what that means. Would you like a careful explanation of PF's skills in playing people off against each other, in making use of a person and then discarding him, in ruthlessly humiliating or disposing of people whose aptitude for sycophancy he finds insufficiently crafted? It's all here.
Every book has its particular take on things, and Colonna's take on PF will not in itself surprise anyone. It has, I think, become so clear as now to be uncontroversial that what you get in PF is not what it says on the tin. He is not a kindly humble avuncular figure with a winning smile and a passion for cripples and babies, who spends his days and nights thinking about the poor. He is a hard and determined politician with a vindictive temper and an appetite for power and a disinclination to let anybody or anything stand in his way. Colonna shows how this was already apparent to PF's own fellow-countrymen well before he burst on to the international scene with his Buona Sera. Under Colonna's tutelage, you will not only understand PF's past, but you will be able to hazard an informed guess about what he might do in his future!
The unscrupulous manipulation of the 'Synods'; the dismembering of the Franciscans of the Immaculate; the 'Reform' of the Vatican finances; the assault upon the Knights of Malta; the 'Reform' of the Roman Curia; PF's poor record in dealing with the scandal of paedophile or ephebophile priests; the St Gallen Group and the parts played by Martini and Daneels and Murphy-O'Connor and the rest of them in plotting for the last two Conclaves; the antics of the Vatican's Gay Mafia; Marcantonio's historian's scalpel will expose to your view all the subcutaneous realities of this pontificate.
The whole game is not yet played out; but we already have a lot of data. Let Dr Colonna offer you a guided tour through them!
Thank you for a great laugh, but also for a totally honest & refreshing critique of The Dictator Pope. I expect it will sell out in next to no time. The Vatican, it seems, is trying to buy up all copies before it does but as it will be issued in many languages that will present them with a financing problem. What with the IOR's chiefs being fired on a regular basis, Cardinal Pell in Australia & Soros's pockets getting smaller due to all PF's team's traveling & partying around Vatican City, we might be lucky in succeeding to get our hands on one to be shared within our community.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand what priests and bishops are so afraid of. I mean, I've got a wife and 3 kids to support...I can't mouth off to my boss. Fair enough. But when you don't have those responsibilities...what are they afraid of?
ReplyDelete"mouth off to my boss" ????
DeleteI think you are mistaken. His Humbleness is a hired hand. The "Boss" is the Lord. They should be more concerned what he will say.
I found Tosatti's review fascinating, and was already considering buying the e-book. However, while my Italian's reasonable, I'm grateful for your notice that the book is to appear in English.
ReplyDeleteMarcantonio Colonna is clearly a pseudonym, and I think Tosatti makes out a good case that the author is an Anglophone. (Most of his citations are from sources in English.) Thus it may well be that the English edition is the original.
Ana--
ReplyDeleteThey can't buy up all the Kindle copies! I have mine pre-ordered!
Tony V- of having to work for a living.
ReplyDeleteI not comfortable with the book being published anonymously. If what the author claims is correct the people/person named should be able to face their/his accuser and mount a defence. That said, I will probably purchase the English version for Kindle.
ReplyDeleteTo Tony V.= I'd say that the older generation of priests, especially those ordained in the 60's are afraid for speaking out against PF because they for sure will be laicized (kicked of the priesthood in better words) and therefore loose their retirement pensions. To be more precise those ordained in the 60's I believe have made a grave damage to the Faith for the most part because they directly executed Vatican II reforms: they became modernists, very liberals. They ones ordained in the 70's were very educated, are intellectual but started the destruction of the Catholic Liturgy with their improvisations, social justice ideology, peace and love (hippie) movement approach etc. Of course there are those old folks who defend Vat. II with "cape and blade" while enjoying free cruise travels and pilgrimages to the Tome, Lourdes and the Holy Land.
ReplyDelete@Tony V, a priest wrote about this in a comment on 1P5. Priests have a responsibility to their flock and want to protect their flocks. If a priest is removed because he is outspoken, then there is a good chance that a heterodox priest will be the replacement. So they keep their heads low and tend to their flocks, whose souls are the responsibility of the priest.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, to me the scandal is that bishops and cardinals are not up in arms about this. What do they think the red hats mean? Just a pretty accoutrement?
The book CAN'T sell out because it's an e-book!
ReplyDeleteSo far, it's available on Amazon, in English, only as an e-book.
Many fear being sent to some boring, poky little parish.
ReplyDeleteOthers, like our members of Congress, fear being "outed" in various ways. And their controllers won't even let them retire into obscurity. They must stay in their "powerful" positions, and continue to do evil, or be utterly destroyed. Maybe even killed.
The world for many decades has been running on public officials' being blackmailed for sodomy, rape, pedophilia, and murder. Their controllers are the real rulers of the world.
Doesn't Holy Mother Church have enough problems now? Does she need this drama? Does she need public attacks on His Holiness? I do think of this papacy as a catastrophe, but do we really want to fight fire with fire?
ReplyDeleteRandolph Crane: If the world's bishops had had the attitude you have, they would have covered up for molester priests, "for the good of the Church," and "to prevent scandal."
ReplyDeleteOh. That's right. That's exactly the attitude they had, and exactly what they did.
I don't recall ever reading about the French standing on the beaches at Normandy, saying, "Do we need all this drama?"
Well, as hard as the modernists or neo- modernists try to distort the Truth, the more we know the true nature of the leaders of this travesty, the better. Ignorance is never good.
ReplyDeleteRandolph Crane: Normally I would agree with you. However, we do have a clear Gospel procedure for correcting any of the brethren, including our bishops and our popes.
ReplyDeleteBishops have spoken. Cardinals have spoken. Priests have spoken. Laypeople have spoken. But the pope has ignored all criticism that took place "inside" the Church. So if someone writes a well-informed book of biography and criticism, it's still a long way short of suing the Pope in the secular law courts and treating him like a pagan or tax collector, which is the next step that Jesus recommends.
The only bad thing about it is that, if you confront a controlling personality, he tends to "double down" or harden his heart. But you never know; miracles do happen, and consciences can be pierced.
Victoria -- There is a very long tradition of writing political books under pseudonyms, so as to avoid unfair retribution. Since one of America's most important political documents is a collection of pseudonymously authored newspaper essays -- The Federalist Papers -- obviously I have to be in favor.
ReplyDeleteMore recently, several history books that were too edgy for academe have been written pseudonymously, to avoid being fired or murdered. The point of this is that if the historical information is correct and valid, and the sources are fully provided, the history should be believed no matter who the author might be.
I like pseudonyms for their fun aspect, which is the historical reason for their Internet use. But despite the fact that sometimes they also have their evil uses by nasty people hiding in the dark, it cannot be denied that their serious uses for good are vital to civilization and freedom.
I believe it is more appropriately called fighting fire with truth. Our Lord set an example of very bluntly calling out clergy who betrayed the calling of their office and abused the faithful. Many saints have followed the Master in doing this.
ReplyDeleteRandolph Crane: fighting fire with fire is precisely what one has to do when (as with massive forest fires) water is incapable of doing the job. (The idea is that one sets controlled fires between the conflagration and the region beyond, so that the former has nothing to burn when it reaches the area previously incinerated.) I'm not sure how one would apply the metaphor to criticism of the current pope, mind you.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by this book but more due to finances and time than anything else likely won't read it. I think many posters here forget the importance of obedience, paternal piety and the current atmosphere of constant fake news as factors for some priests silence. It was commonly held that unless obedience would directly be sinful one should be obedient. Besides I remember reading recently, somewhere that even bishops and the like have right to there good name.
ReplyDeleteExplaining my "fire with fire" metaphor:
ReplyDeleteWriting a book about how bad the Pope is, will only cause scandal. It doesn't matter where it comes from and with what intention it's written; a "look how dumb the pope is" book or article is never good. Critizising him and his actions is of course necessary, but there is a fine line between critizising, and calling someone out.
I remember the time (a few years back) when Dr. David Berger, a German expert for Thomism, and highly regarded theologian, came out as being gay, as living in a homosexual partnership, and as being very well acquainted with the gay lifestyle, including sex parties and hard drugs (he even wrote a lengthy article explaining gay sexual practices).
Formerly, he was considered an absolute conservative who supported Benedict XVI fervently. When he came out, he wrote a book, talking about much bad stuff in a tasteless manner. He spoke about the gay mafia in the Vatican (which is very much real), about gay bishops and priests, and even accused Benedict of being an active homosexual. In his (David's) eyes, this was fully justified because he wanted to inform the people of how rotten the Church really is, and how rotten the bishops etc. are. Ultimately, his claims were mostly false, although some were true.
Did he do the Church any good? No, he caused confusion, pain, apostasy and many more things hurting the Church and the faithful.
It is one way to critizise a pope objectively, and another thing to write a book about how rotten the Pope is.
I see no difference between the "Dictator Pope", and this schismatic/heretic homosexual.
The e-book is available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Dictator-Pope-Marcantonio-Colonna-ebook/dp/B077SP6SSR and that is the only format at this time.
ReplyDeleteThe author is described as "a graduate of Oxford University who has extensive experience of historical and other research. He has been living in Rome since the beginning of Pope Francis's pontificate."
He has taken on the name of Marcantonio Colonna, the commander of the Spanish cavalry. At the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, he commanded the papal Capitana (flagship) where he rescued the flagship of commander Don John of Austria.
If the author is feeding his children with the profits of this book,He is feeding them with very uncleaned food.
ReplyDeleteThis papacy inherited the filth of John Paul ,Marcial Maciel and Ratzinger.
No author will be able to top that scandal....Pope Francis is the most decent human being in the Vatican and I am not catholic.
Is Nilda aware that Pope Benedict is the one man who took on the 'filth' and introduced meticulous and effective procedures to eliminate it? Back in January, it might not have been so clear to many that Pope Francis has thoroughly dismantled the child-protection procedures of Benedict and has been revealed to be an ally and protector of some very unsavoury characters, indeed. We don't even need this book to know these things-they have been revealed by the mainstream media.
ReplyDeleteThat last comment of 'Nilda Latorre' is just calumny and deeply naive.
ReplyDeleteIt was a lamentable thing that the Parkinsons suffering JP2 refused to consider the evidence against Maciel (someone quite possibly suspended from the priesthood by his ordinary and uncle before he founded the LC), but Pope Benedict suspended him almost immediately he became Pope, and instituted rules on child protection and financial transparency, which Francis and his supporters have self-interestedly worked hard to nullify. One could instance the names and activities of Barros, Maradiaga and others, in response to anyone naive enough to be fooled by the Bergoglian humility act.