I don't know out of what personal pain John Naughton speaks, but this entry (entitled 'Everything you need to know about the Vatican' and filed under 'Beyond belief') permits no commenting (as is so, I think, with all his postings):
As someone who saw the repressiveness of the Catholic church at close quarters as a lad, I am less than impressed by the unctuous posturing on display in Rome today. This little report in The New York Times nicely conveys the institutional hypocrisy of the regime presided over by JP II.
Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign in disgrace as archbishop of Boston two years ago for protecting sexually abusive priests, was named by the Vatican today as one of nine prelates who will have the honor of presiding over funeral Masses for Pope John Paul II.
Allegations about 'institutional hypocrisy' made in this ex cathedra, no-dialogue-permitted fashion would quickly attract condemnation if it were the Church behaving like this, but it's OK, is it, for bloggers to pass such judgements as unarguable-with-gospel?
I can't think that truth is arrived at in this way. I put my money with David Hume (!) and dialogue: 'Truth springs from argument amongst friends'.
