Although the Vatican is always slow to respond to internal church problems, the pope’s vagueness on such a painful matter has perplexed and frustrated many in the American church. His muted response is, in part, business as usual in Rome. But Vatican sources tell NEWSWEEK that John Paul’s handling of the issue has also been affected by his deteriorating physical condition, and by the reluctance of some aides to tell their ailing boss the whole truth. “The pope knows what’s been happening in the U.S.,” says an American monsignor who works at the Vatican. “But we don’t think he needs to know all the gory details.”
The reluctance to deliver bad news apparently extends to the sexual-abuse scandal that is rocking the Polish church. The Vatican last week accepted the resignation of Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, who’s been accused of making advances on teenage seminarians. A source says that aides shielded the pope from the details surrounding the resignation until the last moment.
While the Vatican did not respond to NEWSWEEK’s request for comment on the pope’s condition, some who deal with him say he is still able to function. “The Holy Father is quite alert,” says Father Peter Gumpel, a Jesuit who works at the Vatican.
But the pope’s increasing frailty was obvious in the weeks leading up to Easter. The Vatican canceled several public appearances by the pope in early March, blaming a painful arthritic knee. When he does appear in public these days, John Paul II is wheeled about on a specially built platform. On Palm Sunday, for the first time in his 23 years as pope, he was unable to take his place at the altar during a mass in St. Peter’s Square. Instead, a cardinal performed the service and the pope read the homily while sitting in an armchair near the altar. In another first, he didn’t take part in the Holy Thursday ritual of washing the feet of 12 priests representing the Apostles. In addition, a Vatican source says the pope, who will turn 82 in May and has Parkinson’s disease, has had problems feeding himself.
More troubling than the pope’s difficulty with such simple tasks, some insiders say, is his inability to run the Vatican with a firm and decisive hand. “The pope no longer has the energy to face up to the pressures of the different currents inside the Vatican,” one official, a cardinal, told NEWSWEEK. “He is no longer the leader,” says another high Vatican official, an archbishop. “He reads whatever they give him to read. Most of the time, he signs… whatever they give him to sign.”
Recent Vatican miscues have not been limited to the handling of the sexual-abuse scandals. A few weeks ago one Vatican office upgraded four areas in Russia from mission status to full-fledged dioceses. The move infuriated the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Aleksi II, who blasted the change as “ecclesiastical imperialism.” The patriarch then canceled a planned visit by the head of another Vatican office, Cardinal Walter Kasper, who hadn’t been told about the upgrade. Fallout from the diplomatic blunder could frustrate the pope’s fond wish for one last trip, a friendly visit to the country that once occupied his native land.
If the pope was the CEO of a major corporation he probably would have been handed his golden parachute years ago. But he’s much more than that, and there’s an old saying that helps explain the current situation in the Vatican: “The pope’s never sick until he’s dead.” But he is sick, and unfortunately for millions of Catholics, the church isn’t so healthy these days, either.
