06 avril 2005

Worth quoting 

Autant l'empressement de Libération.fr à lâcher les chiens dès l'annonce de la mort du pape était indélicat, autant la révérence cathodique actuelle devient étouffante.

Dans ce contexte, une tribune parue hier dans le New York Times est une vraie bouffée d'air frais. Signée du journaliste Thomas Cahill, auteur notamment d'une biographie de Jean XXIII, elle attaque vigoureusement la centralisation du pouvoir et le raidissement théologique qui ont marqué le pontificat de Jean-Paul II (mes italiques et mes gras) :
John Paul II's most lasting legacy to Catholicism will come from the episcopal appointments he made. In order to have been named a bishop, a priest must have been seen to be absolutely opposed to masturbation, premarital sex, birth control (including condoms used to prevent the spread of AIDS), abortion, divorce, homosexual relations, married priests, female priests and any hint of Marxism. It is nearly impossible to find men who subscribe wholeheartedly to this entire catalogue of certitudes; as a result the ranks of the episcopate are filled with mindless sycophants and intellectual incompetents. The good priests have been passed over; and not a few, in their growing frustration as the pontificate of John Paul II stretched on, left the priesthood to seek fulfillment elsewhere. [...]

Sadly, John Paul II represented a different tradition, one of aggressive papalism. Whereas John XXIII endeavored simply to show the validity of church teaching rather than to issue condemnations, John Paul II was an enthusiastic condemner. Yes, he will surely be remembered as one of the few great political figures of our age, a man of physical and moral courage more responsible than any other for bringing down the oppressive, antihuman Communism of Eastern Europe. But he was not a great religious figure. How could he be? He may, in time to come, be credited with destroying his church.
Parmi les réactions officielles au décès du pape, celle de George Bush avait été l'une des plus effusives ("The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd, the world has lost a champion of human freedom [...] We're grateful to God for sending such a man, a son of Poland, who became the Bishop of Rome, and a hero for the ages."). Peut-être parce que leurs manières de gouverner étaient, finalement, étrangement similaires.