Episcopalianism Conversion Watch #4

Benedict has been, shall we say, less than awesome when it comes to reaching out to non-Christian faiths.  John Paul was a master of diplomacy, able to offer carefully-worded apologies that got him favorable write-ups in the AP without often actually admitting wrongdoing by past pontiffs.  He managed to maintain the goodwill of the secular media while keeping conservative Catholics happy with such ease and for so long that it seemed like anyone could do it.

Apparently not.  Benedict is now catching heat for reinstating an excommunicated Holocaust denier.  That’s bad enough, sure, but the NYT and others reporting this story are missing the larger implications.  

The founding principle of the Society of Pius X is traditionalist.  It opposes Vatican II and favors insularity.  For the non-Catholics out there:  Remember those scary guys from The Da Vinci Code?  They’re like that except with less pyschosexual weirdness and more grumpy-old-man-ness.  

They opposed the most important reforms in modern Church history to such a degree that they violated canon law and made up their own bishops.  Will Benedict similarly reinstate excommunicated priests who ordained women?  After all, consecrating false bishops is the worse offense, since it’s a blatant ecclesiatical power-play and not just a local stand on principle.   And, oh, none of those priests ever denied the Holocaust.

This is another instance where disagreement with the Church from the right is tolerated and disagreement from the left is punished.  Motherfuck this guy.  I bet we’ll be reinstating the Palmarians next.