The dogmas of Vatican I almost achieved the bureaucratic and papal ambitions. The conditions attached to papal infallibility, however, limited its use to one occasion in 150 years but the title itself facilitated fake claims. Pseudo-infallibilities have a high maintenance cost. They now take priority over the commandment to love and over Christ’s mandates “Do This” and “Make Disciples”. They limit management options, causing ever-widening sacramental famine. Their defence has involved coercion, deception, and shoddy scholarship with consequent diminished credibility for church leaders.

 

The second dogma, universal jurisdiction, turned the self-perpetuating bureaucracy that normally controls the popes into the effective government of the bishops and thus, of the Church. “The Curia is the Pope” are the words of Pope John Paul II, no less.

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The recent Synod of Bishops, controlled by the curia, was prevented from adapting ministry to the needs of the indigenous cultures by a plethora of pseudo-infallible regulations and several untouchable professional prerogatives.

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This book tells it like it is, providing support to the people who are seeking to reform the Church, showing that their values may be more authentic than the establishment. It calls for an overwhelming option for the truth. It argues for the separation of powers, for the break-up of the Curia and a return to the decentralised system where bishops are selected locally and allowed to lead. It details how the allegedly irreformable dogmas of 1870 can be legally unwound and suggests 29 specific areas where change could make Church management more true to its founder and its mission.