Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit Book

Even the most obsequious history of the papacy will admit that some Popes have been dissolute scoundrels. A book about them would be a juicy read. Instead Garry Wills has written a book about the modern popes. While they are not murderers, lechers and torturers, Wills claims they have constructed and maintain "structures of deceit" in order to prop up insupportable claims to infallible power. In the first section Wills tries to show how the Catholic Church has manipulated the truth regarding the holocaust. In the second section he claims the Church has tinkered with the Truth to promote traditional views on contraception, abortion, male-only ordination, homosexuality, and married priests. In the third section Wills discusses the sleazy politicking which surrounded the nineteenth-century definition of Papal infallibility, and in the fourth section he discusses St Augustine's passion for truth. Wills asks some probing questions which no one interested in the future of the Catholic church can afford to ignore. However, there are three problems with the book. The controversial first half doesn't connect with the historical study in the second. Secondly, Wills has an agenda. The book is more tract than serious history. The third problem is that Wills overplays his hand. His agenda for the Church of Rome is so radical that it becomes difficult to take seriously his claims to be a "faithful Catholic". As a result, Catholics who ought to ponder his basic questions will probably dismiss the whole venture as just another liberal whine and cheese party. Non-Catholic readers, on the other hand, while intrigued, may feel that Professor Wills does not go far enough. --Dwight LongeneckerRead More