Bloodless Coup

The Ideological Axe to Swing Under Benedict XVI

The ouster of Rev. Thomas Reese as the editor of the Jesuit magazine America is likely to be just the first in a long line actions that the new leadership in the Vatican will take against anything resembling dissent. And if you want to read something scary, check out the latest issue of The New Yorker. The story they run on Benedict XVI and the bishops appointed by John Paul II is likely to make many people positively shiver. However, those people will not include GOP social conservative types. It's looking more and more like the central players in the Vatican belong to the Border Patrol party or the right wing of the Salt of the Earth party (to borrow John Allen's typology), and they are going to do all they can to pressure voters and politicians on issues near and dear to much of the Bush/Cheney bloc (abortion, stem cell research) while looking the other way on issues that were once presumed to be central to John Paul II's culture of life (the death penalty, war). We saw this come up in the last election cycle in the US, and we've seen in recently come up in Spanish politics. In fact, according to the article in The New Yorker, President Bush doesn't think he would have won the race last fall without the public attention that was brought about by several Catholic leaders putting heavy pressure on their parishoners to vote a certain way and urging that pro-choice politicians not be given communion. Of course some of the scum of the Church has often tried to influence in politics - I grew up in Louisiana were it wouldn't be a Senate race without the Church taking dead aim at Mary Landrieu (who actually is probably one of their most influential allies on cloning related issues - unfortunately). But even if it's to be expected, it's unfortunate that this ugliness is going to be ratcheted up several notches in the near future.