Infallibility, Integrity and Obedience: The Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church, 1848-2023

The doctrinal and structural revolution currently underway in the Roman Catholic Church is alarming for several reasons, not least because of the arbitrary nature of its imposition and the absence of resistance it has encountered. The reluctance of many to challenge the authority of the pope, tied to the increasing personal veneration by the faithful of each successive incumbent of the Holy See, is arguably a symptom of unresolved unclarity surrounding the nature of authority in the Church dating back to the First Vatican Council. In Infallibility, Integrity and Obedience , John Rist unflinchingly exposes the developments that have bred this crisis of understanding - and the resulting rejection of tradition in the papal agenda - over the past hundred and fifty years. Reserving particular attention for the Roman Catholic dilemmas, political and theological, of the 1930s, the mid-twentieth-century debates on reproductive technology, and the advent of 'celebrity autocracy', he shows how a misapprehension of the nature and definition of papal infallibility is at the root of the major issues facing the Church today. Most importantly, he proposes how the conciliar and individual decisions that have led to the current situation might be reversed, and how the proper role of the Pope can be reclaimed for the good of the Church. Cover Advert Page Title Page Copyright Contents Preface 1. Toward the Syllabus of Errors 2. From The Syllabus of Errors to Pastor Aeternus (1870) 3. Leo XIII: Top-Down Pastor 4. Saint Pius X and the Modernist Dragon 5. The 1930s: Fascists, Nazis, ‘New Theologians’, Condoms 6. The End of an Era? Pius XII as Past and Future 7. Who Changed What at Vatican II? 8. The Pope, the ‘Pill’ and the ‘Woman Problem’ 9. Celebrity Autocracy: John Paul II 10. Joseph Ratzinger: Poacher Turned Gamekeeper? 11. Perón Meets Ignatius: Th e Choice Against Tradition 12. Modest Conclusions, Less Modest Suggestions Very Select Bibliography Index