[lbo-talk] Re: Poor Pope's Service to Rabid Capitalism

[Steven L. Robinson]

The Papacy has historically sought to assure its ability to exercize control over Roman Catholic organizations.  Toward that end it has historically gone to great lengths to negotiate treaties ("concordats") with local governments to do that.  See the account of how the future Pius XII negotiated a concordat with the Nazi government in Cornwall's book "Hitler's Pope."  Evidently, in order to get the Concordat the Vatican to discipline the local hierarchy to stop its opposition to the Nazis (Before Vatican intervention the Germnan Bishops had banned Nazi party members from receiving communion) and cut its support with pro- Roman Catholic German political party.

Concretely, Governments can do lots of things to make the church's life miserable, such as seizing its property, regulating the behavior of its clergy (as Mexico did in the 1920s), expelling clergy (such as the Jesuits, Mary Knolls etc etc), interfere with the Vatican's ability to appoint bishops or even to force the local church to split from Rome (as the Chinese did in the 1950s).  SR

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 


> 
> On Sep 20, 2006, at 11:48 AM, EverYoung Global Intellectual 
> Enterprises wrote: 
> 
> Why? This pope is an agent of reaction, but why is the papacy 
> structurally obligated to do this? The Catholic Church is rich and 
> powerful - doesn't it have a degree of autonomy from capitalism/ 
> imperialism? What's the mechanism of enforcement? 
> 
> Doug 
> ___________________________________ 
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk 
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