John Cornwell's The Pope in Winter shows how John Paul II has redefined the papacy. He will leave behind a dangerous legacy, says Stephen Bates
Saturday February 12, 2005
The Guardian
The Pope in Winter: The Dark Face of John Paul II's Papacy
by John Cornwell
329pp, Viking, £20
There is a story that a visitor at an audience with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican was shocked by the elderly pontiff's Parkinson's-racked appearance. He bent low over the shaking and sagging figure and asked him how he was. A beady eye glimmered out of the pink face sunk against the papal chest and the slurred voice crackled out: "From the neck down, not so good." Then it added, fiercely: "But I don't lead the church with my feet!"
His Holiness may be a bit beyond that sort of sally now but, true or not, the story of the pope's indomitability is entirely in character and it is well-illustrated by the dustjacket of this book. The cover, wrapped around a critical biography by a well-known Vatican watcher, depicts John Paul II, buffeted and faltering, leaning King Lear-like for support against his crucifix in what appears to be a strong gale. It is a picture of human frailty.
The ailing Pope has published two volumes of reflections in recent months, one last autumn and another coming out here next month. His publishers must (understandably, for they are only human) be hugging themselves at the serendipity of this timing, though it may be doubted how much John Paul II has really had to do with writing the books in his declining condition. His bland thoughts will probably receive a large sale, especially if he dies, though they have apparently not sold well yet. But perhaps The Pope in Winter deserves the wider study. John Cornwell, a journalist turned Cambridge academic and brother of the thriller writer John le Carré, has produced a devastating report. Catholics should read it, if not to change their views - though perhaps it should - then at least to inform them.
Cornwell wrote the book that skewered the reputation of the wartime Pope, Pius XII, for vacillation and cowardice in the face of the Nazis - an exposé for which some Catholic loyalists still cannot forgive him and which caused an American nun to try to throttle him on live TV. And now he sets fair to saw John Paul II off at the knees as well. The loyalists and hagiographers are circling defensively around the old boy to protect him from the attack on his record, though they have been unable to undermine any charges of substance. John Paul II's supporters believe the Pope is almost devoid of human stain. Sometimes the pontiff, after a quarter of a century of infallibility, seems to think so too. This book shows that, like the rest of us, he is all too human.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,6121,1411106,00.html
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