John Cornwell is the author of Hitler’s Pope and Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint

NUF SAID.

This is HOOEY!! The author has a very biased agenda.

Is anyone surprised at this? The Catholic church is full of men wearing dresses, fabulous jewelry, tiaras and ruby red slippers...and let´s not forget the harlequin outfits the Swiss army wears!
I´ve heard to get inside the Vatican, your outfit has to pass inspection from adonis-like bouncers wearing tailored Armani suits.Tell me that doesn´t sound like a gay nightclub!
If you didn´t already know that the Vatican is and always has been the gayest place on earth, wake up and smell the incense.

This man is an anti-Catholic bigot who has been given a public venue in which to spew his nasty lies and delusions. Benedict NEVER wanted to be Pope, he was hoping to retire quietly in Germany with his beloved cat in his country cottage. He is having some serious health issue, including blind in one eye. He is doing the right thing and putting the church first, it takes courage and humility to do that, wish Obama would take a leaf from his book.

Cornwell is an idiot.

Would that real leadership would come, condense The Church as suggested, and drive the sodomites into oblivion.

But one would first have to drive the sodomites sitting in the pews into oblivion but that wouldn´t be inclusive now, would it.

This is a sick, sick society with a sick, sick church, and I don´t mean just The Church.

They are all sick with the same cancer and nothing will change until those kneeling in the pews get off their inclusive knees and onto their own two feet, light a "torch" or two, and drive the "filth" out of the temple.

But I´m not holding my breath.

In the old days there were many self appointed "witch hunters". John Cornwell is the modern self appointed hunter of conspiracies within the Catholic Church. Good think Benedict abdicated otherwise, had Benedict died in office Cornwell would have used the same or a similar scenario to claim that Benedict was murdered. Look up all the conspiracy books and fables about the Death of John Paul I by similar dark forces within the Vatican and Curia.

Speaking of anti-Catholic nonsense, I just read response #3.

The Swiss guard wear uniforms inspired by Renaissance-style uniforms. The Swiss guard have been at the Vatican as mercenary soldiers, bodyguards, and now ceremonial guards, for over 500 years. It is an incredible honor to be selected to serve. These young men dedicate at least 2 years of their lives to their faith, and yet you chose to ridicule what they wear? Not sure where you heard about Armani-styled goons checking out those wanting to get in the Vatican, but as a Catholic I find such cheap, silly and sophomoric posts unworthy of this site.

Explain to me... If all these big-wigs lose their job when the pope dies or resigns, and the new pope gets to appoint a new set for his administration- then isn´t the current "corrupt" league of church officials the one that was appointed by this pope who just resigned so they would lose their jobs? Already some who have commented on this thread seem to be shooting the messenger instead of giving pause to what was written. Only Catholics think that the Catholic Church is the True Church. My goodness, that´s why the rest of us Christians are called PROTESTants --because we have protested many of the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church and its papacy. And Protestants have been protesting for more than 500 years, even if it meant getting burned at the stake by the Catholic Church.

#7 is on the mark. Corwwell, was dismissed as a seminarian crank w/homosexuality on the brain. His raging slander of Enrico Cardinal Pacelli (Pius XII) was beyond the pale. As for #3, just light a candle and offer it up. Ignoramuses traffic in gossip, hearsay, innuendo and rumor while peddling it as truth. It´s predictable and utterly brainless.

This mess of a ´news´ article is a microcosm of the ´Filth´ that permeates the newsmedia today. If you read this, its full of accusations, innuendoes, and sanctimonious self-righteousness. Yet, he doesn´t point to one shred of outside evidence backing up even one of his claims. Has anyone seen this ´report´ he sites of the ´filth´ in the church that supposedly forced Benedict´s hand?

´He had longed to be Pope. He has loved being Pope.´ Really? Thats news to me. From what I´ve read, Benedict felt he was too old from the start to be Pope, yet accepted the office anyways. ´He spent most of his time writing and took time off to tinkle on the piano and stroke his cat.´ What an arrogant, POS this Cornwell is. The Daily Mail should be ashamed of itself for paying this idiot to write such drivel. But as we all have seen, the media of today has no shame. Hence, we get ´writers´ like Cornwell and articles like this. Disgusting.

#6, we are all sinners. If you think the church should have no members who sin, they would have no members.

That said, I have heard that the Chruch allowed in a lot of gay clergy after Vatican II. That was a big mistake. I also think that their ancient views on marriage and celibacy are also to blame. The Catholic Church didn´t always requird priests to be celibate. They used to marry. But one Pope changed all that because he wanted to keep the wealth in the church. He didn´t want priests passing down any wealth obtained to their heirs. The church has a lot of problems. I don´t know if this is a hit piece or the truth. All I can say is it wouldn´t surprise me now especially after how they handled all the child abuse cases. BTW, I chose to be baptised and confirmed Catholic in my 20s. Even though I am not practicing, I do not hold any hatred toward the Church. I am just saddened and mortified that so much corruption has infiltrated it.

Days before the announcement of the Pope´s resignation, I watched an interesting, intense and very disturbing documentary on HBO. ´´Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence´´. It is described as being about child abuse of deaf children by catholic priests. It is about so much more than that and goes into details about the duties of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He, more than any other member of the catholic church, knows more about the sexual abuse of children by priests. It was his job to help them and relocate them. Those that are truly interested in looking for truth and not merely to drown out opposition to the Pope and the Vatican should take the time to find it and watch it.

As a practicing Catholic let me be the first to say that those of you using invective to "argue" (calling Cornwell an "idiot" and leaving it at that) have your heads in the sand. You are as guilty of the cover-up as the Church because of your failure to see what is happening and your lack of insistence to hold those guilty accountable. This is YOUR church, not the Curia´s. You are responsible too.

#14 you have a very good point. It is not the Vatican who is responsible for arresting and punishing child molesters. It is not the Vatican who lets these guys get away with their crimes it is often our courts and police and fellow citizens who look the other way. As bad as the sex abuse crisis was there never was a priest accused of adopting and abusing boys like George Harasz and Doug With of Glastonbury CT. Yet next week these two guys will get let off. Stan McGee of Massachusetts was caught abusing a 15 year old yet he is living with his "husband" who runs a school. No problemo.

#4 is right and the reporter wrong, the Pope who just resigned never wanted to be Pope, was sad when he found out he got the job. Whatever the reasons for his leaving at this moment, the fact is he never wanted the job to begin with.

I rarely comment on these threads but I can´t let this article go unremarked. I know John Cornwell, have for twenty or more years. He is not to be trusted, particularly when it comes to matters of the Catholic church. I will not be more specific because my lawyers enjoy a leisurely life but trust me. Don´t believe this or John Cornwell.

Bearing false witness again, eh, John?

Well that´s that.....any more questions?

And really #3?

Congratulations on those who get their information about the Catholic church from HBO, the New York Times, NPR and Jack Stick comics. As if his lies about Pius XII weren´t enough, this comes out to the hoots and howls of the usuals.

Again, at the onset of this problem, when it became clear that local bishops were not able to deal with the problem due to Canon law---- you can´t just strip or defrock a priest, Ratzinger addressed the issue by making the necessary procedural changes in Rome and in the local Episcopal conferences.

Those Bishops who watered the flowers with openly gay priests, professors and seminaries have been weeded out. They weren´t put their by JPII, or by Ratzinger, but the old and complicit -- Huntzinger, Weakland, Bernadin and finally Mahony -- they have been moved out. Perhaps the NYTImes and HBO left that out.

Frogs hop, snakes slither, bigots bigot.

#12 is to be thanked for a history lesson about the beginning of Catholic priests´ injunction against marriage. It prevented a wealth drain, at a particular time in history when states were weak and political stability rested in the integrity of a strong church.

People being who they are, the celibacy policy didn´t make a dent in priests´ (hetero-) sex lives.

As a devout Catholic who married Greek, I have enjoyed my friendships with Orthodox church´s priests and happy Presbyteras (priest´s wife). Nothing I see shows that marriage and family distract one iota from these priests´ duty and devotion to their church.

Something like this needs to happen in Washington. Flush away the whole mess of them and disinfect it from top to bottom. Start over with a SMALL government made up of small business men , veterans who love America and mothers who know how a family budget works. We don´t need domestic enemies like lawyers, professional vacationers, communist professors, gays, earth worshipping green party job destroyers, union activists or anyone from the Kennedy clan.

The Liberatti were rattled by the popularity of John Paul II and the deep affection people all over the world felt for him. Can´t let that happen again. Also the Church in America is In multiple legal battles with the Obama administration fighting for everyone´s constitutionally guaranteed religious liberties. My point is this won´t be the last hit piece.

HBO? Bill Maher hates the Church and any religion.. Their mini series are fantastically written, well acted, soft porn gorefests. But I´m sure they´d give the church a fair shake.

good place to put this..
we are getting rid of an un-named provider and just got Dish..
last night going through the initial 400 channels i ran across some shoddy looking second generation "news" channel called "RT"..
the whole time slot was dong a hit piece on the Vatican.. EXACTLY IN THE VEIN OF THIS ARTICLE!!
i googled "RT channel 208"..
it is RUSSIAN TELEVISION!!
WHAAAA??!!
is this the sister station of al jazeera?
where do these things come from??
ANY viewers??
did i make a mistake?
any other lcommers see this?
oh, yeah.. i concur with the above.. sans moles.. a hit piece on the TRUE Catholic Church and Americans..

Thanks Lucianne, your input is always appreciated. And now at such a critical time in history your website is needed now more than ever.

At least Cornwell´s piece is readable. But, not being of the Catholic faith myself, therefore not close to the inner workings of the church, difficult to draw any opinion. But, certainly, I would not rely on only Cornwell´s writings to steer my views in any direction no more than I would rely on Piers Morgan´s news reporting to stay on top of local and international news events.

Thank you, #8, for the comments and also for the history of the Swiss Guards. I´m not Catholic, and I would also remind poster #3 that Catholic priests aren´t the only ones to wear fancy vestments.

Thanks, Lucianne for your input. I read the article and never heard of this stuff. I am a Catholic, and call me naive, but I tend to believe what the Vatican says. But, when I read an article like this one, I wonder what is really going on. I am sure of one thing, the power of prayer. The rest of the politics will take care of itself. Come on Holy Spirit

That brief intro paragraph contains several untrue statements.

Ratzinger never wanted to be Pope. His plan was to serve as Dean of the College of Cardinals until JPII died, then retire back to Germany so he could write books. He was elected because the Italian Cardinals couldn´t agree on a candidate and he was the only European Cardinal with the stature to succeed John Paul. The fact that he was 76 didn´t hurt either. The Cardinals knew he´d be in office for 10 years maximum and they weren´t ready for another long pontificate like John Paul.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And in our hearts take up thy rest;
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid
To fill the hearts which thou has made.

Thank you, #8.

My, the Catholic bashers are out in force this morning.

Thank you, Lucianne, for setting the record straight. As far as Cornell goes, I put him right up there with Dan Brown. He made a lot of people believe that The DaVinci Code was fact instead of fiction.

As to gays in the clergy - gay activists infiltrated the seminaries back in the seventies in an effort to subvert the Church. They are reaping what they have sown.

The Curia sounds like our State Department.

Since there are gays and lesbians everywhere one goes these days....probably they seem more prevalent because few are hiding their inclinations these days....it is reasonable to assume that the Vatican has some people of non-standard sexuality there.

Was that enough for the Pope to resign?
Or did the Pope resign for reasons of health?

The Vatican is also routinely attacked by anti-religious people everywhere.

Whether this article is true or not time will tell. I can´t believe the level of denial on this tread, after all the disgusting behavior of Priests and the cover up of their behavior by the church, it stands to reason this is not an impossibility. Obviously this is painful to many devout Catholics, but sticking your head in the sand to the extent of the corruption will not make it go away. At this point the only thing that could help the Church is facing the facts and a thorough housecleaning.

#12 is observant yet a quibble. While Vatican II lowered the standards for elevation to the priesthood, the intent was to increase declining vocations, not embrace homosexuals. But, per usual, the road to Hell is always paved w/good intentions. And yes Priests did marry as many of the Apostles were. As for the prohibition against marriage to ´keep wealth in the Church´; that is a canard. The issue was the Priest´s children and concern over divided loyalties between his offspring and the members of his parish. For the record ,many Anglican Priests who have returned to the Church of Rome have reentered w/their wives and children. Change is afoot.

Yes, we are aware. Yes it is painful. And we try to stay informed and in fact help those less informed. It is not an act of denial to point out the wanton ignorance of those who would rather repeat what they know or ought to know isn´t true, or to lie by omission. Or to identify their historic prejudices, as with the author here, their hidden agendae, or the bigots with who they consort.
But again, antiCatholic bigotry is still very chic in some circles. Party on.

Thanks for the link #36 There is a summary of this along with the full paper on LifeSiteNews. I do not take any satisfaction in it but I do not doubt that there is a serious problem in the Church because of homosexual clergy. I do not know if this was the motivation for the Holy Father´s resignation. In any case it must be cleaned up.

The vast majority of the priests in the Catholic Church are and have always been diocesan priests. They DO NOT,AND NEVER DID take a vow of poverty, and therefore they were allowed to accumulate and control property and leave it to their relatives, and friends or any other beneficiaries as any ordinary layperson always could, under the prevailing laws of the State. Therefore the belief that celibacy was introduced purely for the church to accumulated the property of its priests is blown out of the water, and gos down as one of those protestant myths..