All the Pope's Men (47 page)
Read All the Pope's Men Online
Authors: Jr. John L. Allen
The American Role in the World
In the end, the Holy See might be less concerned about unilateralism if it had more faith in the world’s lone superpower to foster a world order conducive to the realization of Christian virtue. In fact, however, at the deepest level of analysis, there is serious doubt in many quarters in the Vatican that American culture is an apt carrier for a Christian vision of the human person and therefore of the just society. Many of the more reflective minds in the Vatican would agree with theologian David Schindler of the Communio school that “the religion of Americans contains within it a largely unconscious logical framework consisting of notions of the self, of human being and action, drawn mostly from Post-Enlightenment, democratic-capitalist institutions." The core values of this culture would include liberty in the form of individual autonomy; economic, social, and political liberalism; utility and modern progress; pragmatic morality and the work ethic. All have fueled America’s spectacular success on the world stage, but from the point of view of Roman Catholic anthropology and social ethics, which stress being over doing, all these values are at least potentially dangerous.
Though no Pope and no Vatican diplomat will ever come out and say so, the bottom line is that despite great respect for the American people and their democratic traditions, the Holy See simply does not think the United States is fit to run the world. As a country it is too rich, too narcissistic, too shortsighted and voluble, too young, to be entrusted with the quasi-unfettered power that twentieth-century history entrusted to it. To be sure, there aren’t many countries around that the Holy See would approve for such a role. It should be said, too, that if the Vatican had to choose between a world run from Washington, D.C., and one run from Islamabad, or Beijing, there’s little doubt they would opt for Washington. Yet that doesn’t strike most Vatican thinkers as an especially appetizing choice. Thus the Holy See’s diplomatic energy in coming years will have as a central aim the construction of a multilateral, multipolar world, which will necessarily imply a limitation on the power and influence of the United States. For that reason, and despite strong agreement on a host of issues, the relationship between Rome and Washington seems destined to be complex and sometimes strained.
APPENDIX
Resources for Understanding the Vatican
For readers seeking to follow Vatican news, there are a number of good resources both online and in print. This appendix will list several. Some represent a rather conservative view, some are institutional and moderate, a few rather liberal. The principle of selection here, however, is not ideology but utility. Whether you agree with the point of view or not, you will learn things from these resources that you didn’t previously know.
ONLINE RESOURCES
The Word from Rome, John L. Allen Jr. (American):
www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/
Daily news bulletin of the Holy See (official Vatican site, in multiple languages):
www.vatican.va/news_services/bulletin/bollettino.php?lang=en
Catholic News Service (sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a subscription service):
www.catholicnews.com
WWW.Chiesa: News, Analyses, Documents, Sandro Magister (Italian, but also available in English):
http://213.92.16.98/ESW_lista_chiesa/english/
Settimo Cielo, Sandro Magister, a blog service on Church affairs (Italian):
http://blog.espressonline.it/weblog/stories.php?topic=03/04/09/3080386
Union of Catholic Asian News (sponsored by the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences, a subscription service):
www.ucanews.com/html/uca/main.asp
Catholic World News (American, a subscription service):
www.cwnews.com
Zenit (Italian):
http://zenit.org/english/english.phtml
Noticias Eclesiales (Spanish):
www.eclesiales.org/index.htm
Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur (sponsored by the German bishops, a subscription service):
www.kna.de
Independent Catholic News (English):
www.indcatholicnews.com/headline.htm
Katholischer Nachrichtendienst (sponsored by the Austrian bishops, in German):
www.kath.net
CathNews (Australian):
www.cathtelecom.com
Ansa (leading Italian news wire, a subscription service):
www.ansa.it
Servizio Informazione Religiosa, SIR (Italian):
www.agensir.it/sirs2/s2magazine/index.jsp?idPagina=1
Fides (official news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, in multiple languages):
www.fides.org/eng/index.htm
PUBLICATIONS
English
Catholic World Report
(American, monthly):
www.ignatius.com/Magazines/CWRCurrentIssue.asp
First Things
(American, monthly):
www.firstthings.com
Inside the Vatican
(American, monthly):
www.insidethevatican.com
The National Catholic Reporter
(American, weekly):
www.natcath.org
The Tablet
(English, weekly):
www.thetablet.co.uk/index.shtml
Italian
Adista
(twice-weekly news bulletin):
www.adista.it
Corriere della Sera
(leading daily in Italy):
www.corriere.it
Jesus
(monthly):
www.stpauls.it/jesus
L’Avvenire (official daily newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference):
www.avvenire.it
L’Osservatore Romano (daily Vatican newspaper):
www.vatican.va/news_services/or/home_eng.htm
La Repubblica
(daily):
www.repubblica.it
Il Messaggero
(daily):
http://ilmessaggero.caltanet.it/
French
La Croix
(daily):
www.la-croix.com/index.jsp
German
Stimmen der Zeit
(monthly):
www.stimmen-der-zeit.de/c_aktuell.htm
John L. Allen, Jr., is the Vatican correspondent for the
National Catholic Reporter
and a Vatican analyst for CNN and National Public Radio. His weekly Internet column, “The Word from Rome," is widely considered the best source of insights into Vatican affairs in the English language. He is the author of the acclaimed
Conclave
and
Opus Dei.
ALSO BY JOHN L. ALLEN, JR.
Conclave: The Politics, Personalities,
and Process of the Next Papal Election
Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican’s Enforcer of the Faith
Opus Dei: The First Objective Look
behind the Myths and Reality of the Most
Controversial Force in the Catholic Church
AN IMAGE BOOK
PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY
Copyright © 2004 by John L. Allen, Jr.
All Rights Reserved
IMAGE, DOUBLEDAY, and the portrayal of a deer drinking from a stream
are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Allen, John L., 1965–
All the Pope’s men: the inside story of how the Vatican really thinks /
John L. Allen, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Catholic Church. Curia Romana. 2. Vatican City. I. Title.
BX1818.A46 2003
282’.136—dc22
2003067484
eISBN: 978-0-307-42349-8
v3.0