Calamitous Cardinal

Three Popes and the Cardinal, by Malachi Martin (Farrar, 300 pp., $7.95)

The Roman Catholic Church is perhaps the Western world’s oldest and most important continuous institution. It has wielded immeasurable influence to the present day. Our personalities, our outlook and our moral views all were largely shaped by the Christian heritage which the Church cultivated and transmitted. Further, as an institution, the Church often had a decisive direct influence on the policies, foreign and domestic, of princes and of governments. With increasing secularization, ecclesiastical and even religious influence declined in the West. But the decline of the Church was slow and occasionally offset by gains. Further, the decline of Roman Catholicism was much slower than that of the other Christian denominations; in relative terms there actually was a gain. This was the legacy that Pius XII left to his successors. Up to his death, the authority of the Roman hierarchy was nearly unquestioned by clergy and faithful. Part of the strength of the Church was in its firm structure, strong organization and the image of certainty it was able to present, per omnia secula.

EH

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Ernest van den Haag

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Three Popes and the Cardinal, by Malachi Martin (Farrar, 300 pp., $7.95)

The Roman Catholic Church is perhaps the Western world’s oldest and most important continuous institution. It has wielded immeasurable influence to the present day. Our personalities, our outlook and our moral views all were largely shaped by the Christian heritage which the Church cultivated and transmitted. Further, as an institution, the Church often had a decisive direct influence on the policies, foreign and domestic, of princes and of governments. With increasing secularization, ecclesiastical and even religious influence declined in the West. But the decline of the Church was slow and occasionally offset by gains. Further, the decline of Roman Catholicism was much slower than that of the other Christian denominations; in relative terms there actually was a gain. This was the legacy that Pius XII left to his successors. Up to his death, the authority of the Roman hierarchy was nearly unquestioned by clergy and faithful. Part of the strength of the Church was in its firm structure, strong organization and the image of certainty it was able to present, per omnia secula.