Madam, – Allow me to assure Vincent Twomey (Opinion, April 19th) that there was nothing in Hans Küng’s open letter to the Catholic bishops (Opinion, April 16th) that a normal member of society would regard as “atrocious” or even unreasonable. On the contrary, I have yet to meet anyone who disagrees with the least of Fr Küng’s conclusions or suggestions.
And no amount of spin can obscure the fact that this papacy has been a catalogue of poor public relations and missed opportunities, conducted in language that the ordinary person cannot begin to understand: a strangled Latinate gobbledygook incapable of expressing the simplest human emotions.
And the West has not turned its back on God; merely on the men who would claim to speak in His name. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – If ever proof were needed of the capacity for self-delusion and denial in the upper echelons of the Catholic Church in Ireland, one needs to look no further than Vincent Twomey’s simpering and hagiographical article (Opinion, April 19th) in which he claims that the world and “the faithful” have warmed to Pope Benedict despite the “concerted attempt by the media” to “besmirch his name”.
With a degree of spin which would do justice to the most Machiavellian political adviser, he adoringly lists what he regards as the “prodigious” achievements of the Pope. On closer examination, these actions seem to be confined to having meetings and writing letters which are invariably misinterpreted and greeted by outbreaks of “media outrage.”
For example, Vincent Twomey describes the Pope’s response to the Ryan and Murphy reports as “swift and decisive.” In reality, the Pope was true to form. He called a meeting (after which nothing happened) and he wrote a letter (an appalling and ill-informed attempt to blame the abuse of children on secularism).
While many Catholics are struggling to cope with their pain, confusion and guilt as a result of the inaction and abdication of responsibility on the part of their hierarchy, this Pope and his sycophants are presiding over the decline in the influence and moral authority of their church in Ireland and around the world. Vincent Twomey needs to get out more. If he doesn’t do so quickly, there will be no “faithful” left to tell him what he needs to hear. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – While I have a great deal of sympathy for Pope Benedict in his present travails, I believe his plight is made all the worse by some of those who have rallied to his defence.
In fact the ineptness of the various senior apparatchiks who have spoken publicly beggars belief. First Fr Cantalamessa at a Good Friday ceremony (of all days) in the presence of the Pope, draws the Jews into the equation.
Next, on Easter Sunday again in the presence of the Holy Father, Cardinal Sodano (Dean of the College of Cardinals) glibly dismissed recent revelations of the cover-up of child sexual abuse as “idle gossip”.
Not to be outdone the Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone blames homosexuality as the cause of the debacle.
Finally, Fr Vincent Twomey describes Fr Hans Küng’s open letter to the bishops of the world as “atrocious” (Opinion, April 19th).
In my view Fr Küng's letter is possibly the finest piece of religious writing to appear in The Irish Timesin many a day. If these are the best defenders Mother Church can send to the ramparts, in our hour of need, then we are in greater peril than I feared. – Yours, etc,