AMBIGUOUSLY CATHOLIC

Church, Interrupted: Havoc & Hope: The Tender Revolt of Pope Francis BY JOHN CORNWELL CHRONICLE PRISM, 304 PAGES, $27.95 The Truth at the Heart of the Lie: How the Catholic Church Lost Its Soul BY JAMES CARROLL RANDOM HOUSE, 384 PAGES, $28.99 Is this liberal Catholicism's big moment? Examining the answers given, or implied, by churchmen, politicians, historians, propagandists, and journalists can produce a feeling of unreality, a sense that-to quote Gertrude Stein-there's no "there" there. Since the mid-nineteenth century, "liberal Catholic" has been an ambiguous term. During the pontificate of Pius IX, Catholicism was faced with grave challenges: the rise of democracy, which threatened the political power of the pope and bishops; new findings in history and science, which raised questions about the credibility of the Bible and the Church; and a culture of individualism, in which the Catholic claim to possess an authoritative, universal truth seemed overbearing and harsh. The more the world asked, in effect, "You can't really believe all this stuff, surely?" the more Rome proclaimed, "Oh yes we do!" Papal infallibility and the inerrancy of Scripture were put on an even firmer doctrinal basis; "progress" and "modern civilization," in the words of Pope Pius's "Syllabus of Errors," were denounced ever more magnificently; theologians who wanted to discuss complex questions lived in fear of being condemned by the hierarchy.