Matthew Fox - The Popes War: Why Ratzingers Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved

Other Titles by Matthew Fox

The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations

The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the
Birth of a Global Renaissance

Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet

The Hidden Spirituality of Men

Hildegard of Bingens Book of Divine Works, Songs, and Letters (as editor)

Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

In the Beginning There Was Joy (for children)

Meditations with Meister Eckhart

Natural Grace (coauthored with Rupert Sheldrake)

One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart

The Physics of Angels (coauthored with Rupert Sheldrake)

Prayer: A Radical Response to Life

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time

Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Lessons for Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

A Spirituality Named Compassion

Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes (edited)

Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: Toward a Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality

Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and
Everyday Life

THE
POPES
WAR

WHY RATZINGERS SECRET CRUSADE HAS
IMPERILED THE CHURCH AND
HOW IT CAN BE SAVED

MATTHEW FOX
FOREWORD BY BRUCE CHILTON

STERLING ETHOS and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fox, Matthew, 1940
The Pope's war : why Ratzinger's secret crusade has imperiled the church and how it can be saved /
Matthew Fox ; foreword by Bruce Chilton.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4027-8629-7
1. Benedict XVI, Pope, 1927- 2. Church controversiesCatholic ChurchHistory20th century.
3. Catholic ChurchHistory20th century. 4. Church controversies--Catholic ChurchHistory21st century. 5. Catholic ChurchHistory21st
century. I. Title.
BX1378.6.F69 2010

282.09'045dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2011 by Matthew Fox
Dorothee Solle, Credo, Meditation & Gebrauchstexte, Gedichte. Berlin 1969,
Wolfgang Fietkau Verlag, Kleinmachnow.

All rights reserved

Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-8629-7
Sterling eBook ISBN: 978-1-4027-8885-7

For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales Department at 800-805-5489 or specialsales@sterlingpublishing.com.

Picture Credits
COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: St. Josemaria Escriva: Communications Office of Opus Dei

GETTY IMAGES: [STF/Staff]AFP/Getty Images:

CORBIS: Bettmann/CORBIS

ARTISTS: Michael Amsler

Tyrants are more afraid of good people than of bad people.
Thomas Aquinas

Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein

every day I am afraid
that he died for nothing
because he is buried in our churches,
because we have betrayed his revolution
in our obedience to and fear of authority
Dorothee Soelle

This book is dedicated to all those Great Spirits, many of them martyrs in our time, brave and good souls in Latin America, who have fought the good fight and often paid the ultimate price to render the message of Jesus about love and justice incarnate in todays history and culture and are birthing another way of being church. With special thanks to Oscar Romero, Sister Dorothy Stang, Penny Lernoux, Bishop Casaldliga, Cardinal Arns, Leonardo Boff, and thousands of others known and unknown who remind all of us of the link between courage and Spirit.

CONTENTS

by Bruce Chilton

SECTION ONE: THE MAKING OF AN INQUISITOR:
RATZINGERS LIFE STORY

CHAPTER 4: The Inquisitors Enemies: Casaldliga,
Javorova, and Callan

CHAPTER 5: The Inquisitors Enemies: The Creation
Spirituality Movement

SECTION THREE: RATZINGERS ALLIES: WITH
FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

CHAPTER 7: The Legion of Christ and Father Maciel; Communion
and Liberation and Cardinal Law

SECTION FOUR: THE END OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AS WE
KNOW IT AND THE BIRTH OF A TRULY CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY

CHAPTER 10: Treasures from the Burning Building:
What Is Worth Saving?

CHAPTER 11: Toward a Truly Catholic Christianity and a
Post-Vatican Catholicism

CHAPTER 12: Grieving,Then Acting: Twenty-Five Concrete
Steps to Take Christianity into the Future

APPENDIX: Wailing Wall of Silenced, Expelled, or Banished
Theologians and Pastoral Leaders under Ratzinger

P ROPHECY INVOLVES CONFRONTING PAIN and encountering beauty, both for the prophet and whoever listens attentively. For forty years, Matthew Fox has been Americas principal prophet to the Roman Catholic Church.

Conventional authorities have never shown a liking for prophets; they typically try to silence them by any expedient means. Matthew Fox has been silenced. He obeyed an order not to speak or teach for a year, which then stretched on to fourteen months. Then he opened a conference address by saying, As I was saying fourteen months ago when I was so rudely interrupted.... His Dominican order expelled him under pressure from the Vatican.

Rejection of that kind brings loneliness, compounded when friendships dissolve in the fear that showing concern for a silenced colleague might bring repercussions. But Matthew Foxs steady focus on his vision has enabled him to attract thousands of disciples and tens of thousands of readers, to pioneer some of the most productive programs of theology in recent years, and to nurture a loyal circle of sympathizers and friends.

What is it that provokes extreme reactions to prophets? Why cant they just have their say and go about their businessand let their listeners go about theirs? The prophet Jeremiah said that he tried not to voice his message, but that the word of God consumed him from within like a fire (Jeremiah 20:9). Matthew Foxs good faith effort to obey his superiors resulted only in his deepening commitment to the message that they did not wish to hear.