Customer Reviews

The Making of the Pope 2005

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Much of the early portion of the book consists of Father Greeley's "State of The Church" address. While it might be somewhat difficult to make your way through this portion, doing so helps place the remainder of the book in context. Father Greeley presents very interesting timeline of the events leading up to the death of John Paul II. The timeline continues through the funeral, conclave and the election of Benedict XVI. Thoughout the timeline, Father Greeley presents his personal thoughts and comments about the various events included in the timeline.

Ultimately, Father Greeley is once again successful in producing historical events in a manner that reads like a very interesting novel. The book will satisfy those looking for both the broad sociological message and the political intrigue related to death of John Paul II and election of Benedict XVI.

Father Andrew Greeley is well known for his book about the Conclave that elected John Paul II in 1978. I personally haven't had the privilege of reading that work but I assume that it dealt a great deal more with the subject at hand than does this book. For all practical purposes this represents two books in one cover for only the last third of the book deals with the 2005 Conclave.

The first two thirds of this book is basically an encyclical from Father Greeley on reforms that he thinks need to be implemented by the Catholic Church. I have to admit that I oppose almost all of the reforms that the good Father purposes and despite my best efforts this may have affected my overall opinion of this book so a healthy grain of salt may be appropriate. I will readily admit however that the author's observations did make me stop and think which is a goal any good author must strive for. The problem arose however when it occurred to me that the more I thought about the issues raised by the author the more fervently I disagreed with him.

Father Greeley predictably goes on and on about the various reforms supported by liberals within the Church. To the normal liberal litany however he adds a call for the election of Bishops and he drones on and on about this throughout the book. Unfortunately this is probably the worst idea he has and one that I feel compelled to contradict. As a cradle Catholic Father Greeley has never had any experience with elected Bishops but as a former Methodist I have seen just how much damage elected Bishops can do. As membership in the Methodist church continues to decline while internal turmoil continues to rise I can assure Father Greeley from experience that elected Bishops are a large part of the problem.

Despite some holes in his arguments however the author generally does a good job of explaining his agenda. His writing is lively and fun and his sincerity is very evident. On the other hand he is just a little strident at times and his decision to label one of his opponents as a creep does not advance his cause in the least.

Finally, in the last third of the book the reader will find what he/she bought the book for in the first place, a play-by-play description of the 2005 Conclave. In this section the author still tends to go on and on with his complaints but when he is actually reporting on the Conclave this book is very good. His descriptions of the crowd gathered at the Vatican and his observations concerning the Italian media frenzy are especially good and if he hadn't repeated himself so often this last part of the book would have been excellent. In fact, it was almost worth wading through the first part of the book in order to reach the pot of gold at the end.

I had read Fr. Greeley's book about the 1978 conclaves and enjoyed it immensely. I hadn't thought to look for this one until very recently, but was happy to find it. Unfortunately, this book is not what it claims to be. As other have noted, most of the writing is about the problems of the Church and how Fr. Greeley thinks they should be solved. Even the reporting on the conclave, thin though it is, was peppered with personal observations on what the Church should do and what the next pope needs to be.

If you followed the news reports at the time, you won't learn anything new from this book. Gone are the accounts of the back-alley deals, the dinnertime whispers, the private campaigning and the political maneuvering of a conclave. Instead, there is a cursory mention of what the Italian press was reporting, sort of sprinkled in among the diatribe. Benedict's full homily from his investiture is reprinted as well, I assume to fill space. Fr. Greeley repeats himself again and again, often verbatim.

So, I was disappointed. If you're looking for the sequel to the 1978 book, don't buy this. If you want to know how Fr. Greeley would run the Church, this is right up your alley.

Andrew Greeley has excellent insight in the problems of the modern Roman Catholic Church. He once again demonstrates that with this book.

Fascinating look into the period leading up to the selection of Bemedict XVI. Real life intrigue
Makes fiction less exciting. A great read with enormous insight into the way the Vatican works - or doesn't.

Very disappointing. I picked up this book with the hope that the background story behind the election of the current Pope would be revealed. This is not that book. Unfortunately, "Father" Andrew Greeley's, "The Making of the Pope - 2005" amounts to nothing more than a diary of a bitter defeated leftist priest with daily blog like notes about what the Italian news was reporting during the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of his replacement.

Instead of real analysis concerning the change in leadership, we are treated to Greeley's personal views regarding how the Church lost its way following the Vatican II council. Sadly it provides very little that is new about the process and election of the Pope and very little insight into the behind the scenes activity that resulted in the election of Cardinal Ratzinger, a man Greeley obviously despises. The best he can do is rehash the press releases and speculation that was rampant while putting his own spin on the meaning, etc. and making statements about how bad a Ratzinger papacy would be for Catholics, especially American Catholics.

In the end this is nothing but a leftist polemic. Throughout the book, Greeley assaults the structure of the church and denies the Vatican Cardinals and the Pope their due respect with an incessant and whining refrain that the little people have access to the Holy Spirit, too, an amazingly simplistic and disingenuous argument to say the least. At other times Greeley lambastes the Church's handling of the abuse scandal while failing to properly note that the abuse cases would never have happened at all if the church had rooted out homosexual priests from the start. What I find most interesting is that the solution that Greeley seems to endorse is complete sexual freedom for priests and laity alike with free access to birth control and abortion to clean up the mess. If Greeley had his way, I suspect that Catholic priests could be joined in civil unions. I guess that is one way to stem the problem. Makes me wonder which side Greeley is on.

In the Introduction, Greeley ponders why he is so angry. And really that is what this book is about. This book is basically one long winded whine where Greeley laments that the Church's views on controversial issues do not match his own. So much for the notion of obedience and loyalty. Greeley is so angry and openly defiant in his heretical support of homosexuality, abortion, and unlimited access to birth control among other things that he really should be excommunicated. If nothing else, this book is a case study of bitterness, arrogance, and impiety. One wonders if he is really that angry why he continues on as a priest at all. Certainly, his specific version of the Holy Spirit could lead him to found his own church where his specific interpretation of the scriptures is more fully realized. At one point he proudly announces his pride in American Calvinism, so he is really not that far away.

The stench of disrespect is at times thick and disgusting. In the introduction on page xviii Greeley writes of the church: " If the Lord had wanted a perfect Church, he would have limited its members to the angels. If he wanted dazzlingly brilliant leadership, he would have assigned those roles to archangels. As it is, we have been led by atheists and rapists, drunkards and adulterers, child abusers and thieves, phonies and fools, traitors and liars, psychopaths and idiots." Tell us how you really feel, Mr. Greeley. That should be enough for any good Catholic to ignore this piece of snide arrogant drivel and character assassination.