Reviews
Read most of Cornwell's biography of the Pope juxtaposed by the watching of the movie "The Robe" (about the conversion of a Roman soldier after touching Christ's robe), and I'm struck by the difference between the world views.
With Cornwell, one can read a chapter or two and miss it. One can see the relentless pragmatism only in hindsight. It reveals itself slowly in accumulation, the subtle mocking of anything that smacks of trust in God or mysticism. But trying to take the mysticism out of Catholicism is like trying to take a bath without water. It's an exercise in futility. Yet Cornwell tries.
To be fair, he sees the Vatican up close. And like the making of sausages, it helps to have a little distance from the very human side of the Church. But Cornwell's pragmatism looks, smells and acts like a denial of the supernatural. John Paul is called to the carpet in a chapter on AIDS because the Pope is against condoms. Resisting the seeming pragmatic good that contraception could do for Africans is controversial in part because it requires faith, faith that the Holy Spirit has guided the Church in banning contraception. The Pope is also disparaged for the pedophile crisis, but Cornwell says that the root problem is John Paul seeing ordination as a supernatural event that leaves a "mark on the soul". On the Iraq War the pragmatism comes out with Cornwell taking a swipe at Ratzinger for saying that a preemptive war is not in the Catechism - Cornwell rebuts that neither is the kind of "asymmetrical war" we are currently engaged in with respect to terrorism. And not surprisingly, Cornwell is dismissive of Fatima and the Third Secret and emphasizes that John Paul's belief in Fatima to underscore his credulity.
"The Robe", on the other hand, is open to the miraculous. It follows the travels of a Roman who is involved with the Crucifixion but who is going mad, thinking he was cursed by the scarlet robe. He goes to find it to destroy it but is slowly converted as he sees the love the Christians have. The miraculous is never overplayed; a dying man healed by Peter's prayer isn't shown leaping from bed. But it is always just burbling below the surface, such as when the robe itself begins the healing. There's also a touching scene where the Roman's ultimate confession to Peter is made much easier after Peter tells him of his thrice denial of Christ, showing that God can make use even of Peter's sin.
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