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TechnoratiThe Power and the Glory
David Yallop made his reputation by smearing the Pope's. Now he's back with another bucket of tar.
by David Yallop
Constable and Robinson | London | 448 pages | £20
ISBN: 1845294467
When he was not actively abusing his authority by secret machinations, he was passively quiescent about the abuses perpetrated by others in the name of the corporation he controlled. Now that he is dead it is the job – nay, the bounden duty – of this author to tear away the pious myths and legends that have accrued around the memory of this false prophet and expose him for what he really was.
In case the reader has not already guessed, the subject of this story is the late John Paul II.
Yallop, described in the blurb as an “investigative writer”, has made his reputation by exposing explosive facts that would otherwise be hidden – such as the murder of John Paul I in 1978, three months into his pontificate, and its cover-up orchestrated by Cardinal Villot. Despite there not being a shred of evidence for this allegation (even John Cornwell, himself no slouch at dubious investigative journalism, exposed it as false in his own book) it is declaimed on page 1 of this volume and sets the melodramatic tone for the rest of the book.
Subtitled “Inside the dark heart of John Paul II’s Vatican”, Yallop cannot quite decide who is the greater villain: the late Pope himself or his corrupt court -- the “Vatican Village”. This latter is depicted as a quasi-Mafia headquarters while at the same time being “awash” with freemasons, members of the “sect” of Opus Dei, fascists and homosexuals. Reading these 500 pages is heavy-going; I could not discover one redeeming feature of this papacy, nothing to suggest that John Paul II was a great ambassador for Christ or that the Church might just occasionally do some good in the world. Even Graham Greene’s novel of the same title allows the whisky priest his moment of heroism. Here everyone who does not fit in with the author’s own brand of liberal intolerance is discredited.
The two longest chapters, predictably, concern the Vatican’s dealings with the Banco Ambrosiano and revelations of paedophilia in the priesthood. Both indisputably grave scandals, they require a more thoroughgoing, less prejudiced treatment than they receive here. Major players who pop up everywhere are Roberto Calvi, found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 and Archbishop Marcinkus, who ran the Vatican Bank. If these two characters had not existed, the author would have had to invent them. When he is not preoccupied with sex and violence he loses his focus but never his venom. He manages to taint everything he touches. Thus World Youth Days are compared to Nazi Nuremberg rallies; the Pope’s love for the Blessed Virgin is “infatuation” or worse, “idolatry”; Providence is a “good contact, a patron or a protector”.
The usual dreary syllabus of Catholic errors and malefactions is trotted out, such as the ban on birth control, women priests and the right to abortion; the elderly celibate men who run the Church; the “neutering” of Hans Kung by the “Vatican Enforcer”. Polly Toynbee, post-Enlightenment high-priestess, is quoted approvingly: “How many people have died of AIDS as a result of Wojtyla’s power?”
Vatican sources, always anonymous, tell the author that the Pope won’t retire, despite his infirmity, because he is “terminally drugged on the adulation of the audience”. Even the captions to the book’s photographs carry a gratuitously unpleasant slant, such as “The Holy Alliance that never was” underneath a picture of John Paul II with President Reagan. In case you did not know, the part these two played in the collapse of Communism is “a myth”. In case you thought the Pope acted as a peacemaker in the world - condemning the Iraq war, for instance -- that also is a myth.
Despite numerous accusations, quotations and allegations, Yallop’s documentation is scanty; there are only 13 notes throughout the whole book. Apparently he has consulted many papal encyclicals and other documents, yet for all his understanding they might just as well have been hieroglyphics. What he lacks in interpretative skill is compensated by fevered phrases: the Pope was “given to bitterness”, he was “quivering with anger”, Ratzinger was “reduced to tears”, the Church had a “lust for temporal power”. The book is also rambling and repetitive; in his zeal to blacken every aspect of the Holy Father’s life, Yallop cannot resist gloatingly repeating his punch-lines. The editing is sloppy: Bishop Deskur had a “major stoke”, the Legionaries of Christ become “Legionnaires” and there is reference to a “Head of Viligance”. If this were Shakespeare’s Dogberry one would laugh.
But this is not comedy. Although described on the dust-jacket as “History/Biography” it is neither; it is simply sensational journalism at its very worst. There are undoubted criticisms to make of the late papacy; there is also the possibility of an intelligent outsider producing a balanced appraisal – as Anthony Howard does, for instance, in his biography of Basil Hume. But this is not the book and Yallop is not the man. A denizen of Grub Street, he has grubbed around in the shadows, giving his own lurid and sordid spin to men and events.
How did I feel when I had finished reading it? Distinctly grubby.
Francis Phillips writes from Bucks in the UK.
What do you think? Sound off! Our guidelines: be concise; stay on-topic; and don't lose your temper! Comments close after 2 weeks. So far there have been 23 comments
I beg to differ: you do not know these things for sure, as all these things are based on blind belief. By insisting that people do not make judgment, you are forming a judgment yourself. Any one with anything resembling half a brain knows that the Church of Rome has used violence, murder, torture and perverse sexual leanings amongst many of its clergy to spread its political and religious agendas wherever it could. Now that they have become stuck in their own web of intrigue, they wish to look as though the facts are not the facts. They tell their flock how to behave, yet they do the opposite in such an underhand ways so as to make their "errors" look like genuine mistakes.
That mode of behaviour is completely hypocritical and deserves just judgment: but who will judge these most perverse of men? A god? Very convenient indeed, especially when the existence of such a being that allegedly gives approval to his "chosen priesthood" does not life one single finger, never mind three, against those who supposedly follow his laws, yet partake in pogroms, child rape and sodomy. They stand judged by their fellow man and by their silence, which stands in mute testimony to their perverse leanings.
The belief that an unseen deity is the only judge of all that exists is a pure blind belief that is both promulgated and propagated by those who benefit from doing the most evil and hypocritical of things in secrecy. Is this what Jesus taught? Did he not say that there exists nothing within the darkness that does not exist in the light? The truth is the truth, so why try to cover it up and make it look like something else? Belief is not truth: belief is merely a subjective opinion expressed in the absence of fact. Belief is blind by definition.
Now let's consider an old saying, "Out of every word that comes out of your mouth you will be judged", you know who said it and it also includes what you write. I have a suggestion for you, when you see a wrong, real or imagined pray for that person and the more serious the perceived problem the greater the prayers. I'm sure that those who pray for others will be judged more favorably than those who usurp God's right to judge. Therefore pray always for we will never run out of people in need of prayer.
Anyone who really believes Pope John Paul I (RIP) died a natural death only has to ask themselves why he received no autopsy, why he his body was cremated within 24 hours of death and why Sister Lucy, the seer of Fatima gave him a warning about his personal safety.
It is time for all Wojtyla-worshippers, to reassess the so-called “saintliness” of the object of their idolatry. First, any pope who covers up the evils of an organisation allowing its clerics and episcopate free license to sexually abuse women and children without any discipline, but who excommunicates a traditional archbishop and his four newly created bishops for defending the traditional Roman Catholic liturgy & its doctrines has to be put seriously into question. Second, when he places in doubt the unique role of St Peter’s barque in salvation and propagates shamelessly, as he did, all other false religions such as animism, buddhism, islam and so on, then you have to add a large question mark over the Catholic authenticity of his understanding and teaching. He was also involved in sacrilege against the Holy Eucharist offering it to the non-Catholic Tony Blair and to semi-naked indigenous people at various public Masses which involved illicit behaviours such as Hindu rituals at his own Papal Masses. Further, if we consider his public approval of the heretical Neo-Catechumenal Way and the convenient personal prelature proffered on an organisation, Opus Dei, whose considerable financial contributions to the Vatican Bank arouse many more questions, then we have to admit, it is not only Yallop who raises doubts about the sanctity of Pope John Paul II (RIP) but many Catholic critics too. Permission to build the grand mosque in Rome; numerous Assisi blasphemies; rushed canonisations and beatifications by the hundreds, ignoring & changing Pope Urban VIII’s infallible processes for validity; false teachings such as the notion of universal salvation and the alleged continued validity of the Old Covenant salvation plan with God for the Jews, and others, must put beyond doubt that any attempt to canonise this man is misdirected. Therefore, he has contradicted previous magisterial teachings of The Church. This alone militates against his sanctity.
When we evaluate World Youth Day, his brainchild, as an authentic instrument for catechising Catholic youth, then we have to ask ourselves whether or not the leadership of The Church has taken leave of its senses. It is an event which produces sacrilegious liturgies, the wide and free distribution of artificial methods of birth control, drugs are allegedly sold there and there are the perfect conditions for illicit sexual behaviours stimulated by irreligious rock music and the spectacle of modern religious whose behaviour is not always worthy of the office they hold.
Indeed, it is time to wake from sleep and to ask ourselves, why was it that such a pontificate was marked by a massive decline in religious vocations; rapidly emptying and closing seminaries and religious houses; the closure of hundreds of chapels and churches; the dizzying growth of mutant modernist liturgies with illicit behaviours undisciplined by the papacy. We need to ask ourselves why such churchmen as Marcinkus, Law, Mahoney, Bernadin, and so on were never disciplined for their disgraceful and un-Catholic behaviour but, on the contrary rewarded with immunity to prosecution and high church office. Moreover, his pastoral visits cost a lot of money to finance but brought no observable reward in rising vocations or in consolidation of The Roman Catholic Faith. Witness today how one Catholic country after another is apostasising The Faith. While, there are many causes for such trends to occur, his role has some influence over the proceedings without doubt.
On the contrary, Mr Yallop, like many other observers raises pertinent questions that will not go away until they are answered, honestly and openly, if they are ever permitted to be in our time by those with a perverse interest in locking the doors to the truth.
Shortly afterwards John Paul II began his "atonement" and supposed apology for the "errors" of the Roman Catholic Church, and visited Jerusalem, thinking that this would somehow rectify the the past.
Yallop is right in many respects, but he needs to dig deeper to find the underlying reasons for the drama that was, and still continues to be, played out in front of the eyes of billions. The truth will shine in due course, but sadly John Paul II was unable to bring himself to give witness to the sixth High Lord of Nazarenes, Joshua Ben Miriam, thus showing that he has sealed the fate of hundreds of millions of Catholics that he professed to love and respect so much.
In this another sort of 'da vinci code' deception, we can hope that God can make a positive outcome out of this 'dark work'. Friends of God has more than enough means to counter the attacks of the enemies. God never loses battle...
As for the Great PPII, I think the author has to think a million time before attacking a saintly spirit. He will be attacking Heaven. He has to have fear of the Lord. Better to attack a human being than to attack a dead person in Heaven.
How sad though that someone would desire to criticise the late Pope John Paul ll hero of millions.
We need to consistently debate & explain the lack of evidence used to discredit the Catholic Church.
The Continuity Movement works for the return of the British Isles to the Catholic Faith..but we really need a world-wide movement as well.
Francis Phillips takes up where the Martyrs left off.
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