The Catholic Plot Against the Catholic Church

In 1914, Andre Gide’s novel, Les Caves du Vatican, appeared and created a sensation. This humorous fantasy concerns the capture of the Pope by the Freemasons and their substitution of one of their members on the Papal throne. The idea of abducting the Pope was hardly new, as the students of French history well know. But the thought of an alien force subverting the entire organization of the Roman Catholic Church through the Pope excited the imaginations of non-Catholics and anti-Catholics alike. It should therefore not be surprising in this age of fantasy-become-truth to find that we are now witnessing the results of the capture of a real Pope—“Good Pope John.” The agents of the plot, however, were not aliens, but trusted palace guard with truly alien thought. This small band of revolutionaries carried out their mission with a precision and astuteness that makes James Bond thrillers seem Victorian in their simplicity.

Who are the revolutionaries? Küng, Davis, Rahner, Congar, Schillebeeckx, Daniélou, de Lubac, and Baum. These names are now quite familiar to the educated public; however, before Vatican II, these Roman Catholic theologians were considered extremists and their ideas were viewed, in some cases, as un-Catholic, to say the least. But most of these thinkers were either Vatican II “periti” (theological experts at Vatican II) or behind-the-scenes advisers to so-called “liberal” Catholic bishops, mostly from Northern Europe. They all share a common distaste for the Church of Rome, as an institution, and they have written books and articles since the Council that have shocked Catholics and non-Catholics alike by their freewheeling repudiation of many historical Catholic beliefs and their apparent disrespect for the Pope and, in effect, all those who disagree with them. They are the doctrinaire liberals of the Church and the real movers of the Vatican II.

JB

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Joseph P. Boyle

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In 1914, Andre Gide’s novel, Les Caves du Vatican, appeared and created a sensation. This humorous fantasy concerns the capture of the Pope by the Freemasons and their substitution of one of their members on the Papal throne. The idea of abducting the Pope was hardly new, as the students of French history well know. But the thought of an alien force subverting the entire organization of the Roman Catholic Church through the Pope excited the imaginations of non-Catholics and anti-Catholics alike. It should therefore not be surprising in this age of fantasy-become-truth to find that we are now witnessing the results of the capture of a real Pope—“Good Pope John.” The agents of the plot, however, were not aliens, but trusted palace guard with truly alien thought. This small band of revolutionaries carried out their mission with a precision and astuteness that makes James Bond thrillers seem Victorian in their simplicity.

Who are the revolutionaries? Küng, Davis, Rahner, Congar, Schillebeeckx, Daniélou, de Lubac, and Baum. These names are now quite familiar to the educated public; however, before Vatican II, these Roman Catholic theologians were considered extremists and their ideas were viewed, in some cases, as un-Catholic, to say the least. But most of these thinkers were either Vatican II “periti” (theological experts at Vatican II) or behind-the-scenes advisers to so-called “liberal” Catholic bishops, mostly from Northern Europe. They all share a common distaste for the Church of Rome, as an institution, and they have written books and articles since the Council that have shocked Catholics and non-Catholics alike by their freewheeling repudiation of many historical Catholic beliefs and their apparent disrespect for the Pope and, in effect, all those who disagree with them. They are the doctrinaire liberals of the Church and the real movers of the Vatican II.