With reference to Guillaumier's letter "Paul's homosexuality", it is curious that he conveniently splashed only one side of the story. Fake news seem to be the order of the day here and abroad and his knack of reporting anything anti Catholic is such that contradicting him seems like making pigs fly. Truth however, will have the final say.
The Observer Washington newspaper had this to say inter alia on Monday, 5 April, 1976: "Without mentioning Peyrefitte by name, Pope Paul said in a brief address to a crowd of about 20,000 in St Peter's Square: 'We know that our Cardinal Vicar and the Italian Bishops' Conference have urged you to pray for our humble person, who has been made the target of scorn and horrible and scandalous accusations by a certain press lacking dutiful regard for honesty and truth.
'We thank you for all these demonstrations of faithful piety and moral sensibility," the 78-year-old pontiff added as the crowd applauded and cheered him.'"
Eventually, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Ugo Poletti and the Italian Bishops' Conference appealed for prayers and the police seized "Il Tempo" in Florence on orders from a state attorney. A suit was filed against the magazine editor on grounds that he abused the honour of the Pope as the head of a foreign state, a crime in Italy. In the 1929 concordat between Italy and the Holy See, the Pope and Roman Catholicism are granted special protection against libel and calumny.
Peyrefitte was later expelled from Italy following another written attack against Pope Pius XII.
Was this then a tabloid splash under the guise of rumour or reality? Great historical myths die hard even when there is new evidence and research to the contrary. Traditional myths about "grave scandals" crop up occasionally even though the authors are aware of the new findings. They do so because they are determined to show that religion, and especially Christianity, is a dreadful curse on humanity.
If Pope Paul VI's case is like the allegations that Pius XII had supported the Nazi regime, called Hitler's Pope and turned out to be a fictitious report of distortions, misstatements, malicious propaganda and lies... well, it was obviously fake reporting embraced only by church haters and professional die-hard anti-Catholic writers. Maybe there are a surprising number of them around working full stretch, now that the Church is again going through a period of distress.
No wonder these insinuations did not succeed in hoodwinking the monumental researches, probes and severe scrutiny of the process of canonization and sainthood of such honest and competent judges.
Pope Paul VI's confessor had this to say about him: "If Pope Paul was not a saint when he was elected Pope, he became one during his pontificate. I was able to witness not only with what energy and with what dedication he toiled for Christ and the Church, but also and above all, how much he suffered for Christ and Church. I always admired not only his deep inner resignation but also his constant abandonment to divine providence."
Perhaps the words "how much he suffered for Christ and Church" refer to these infamous allegations.
Could it have been then bearing false witness or Satan's latest stunt?
The liturgical reading on All Saints Day was the Sermon on the Mount. The last sentence went like this: Blessed are you when men reproach you, and persecute you, speaking falsely, say all manners of evil against you for my sake. (Matthew 5, 5-11)
John Azzopardi
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