Msgr. Richard C. Antall: Ruling vs. Leading the Church

By Msgr. Richard C. Antall, Crisis Magazine, Nov. 11, 2023

Monsignor Antall is pastor of Holy Name Parish in the Diocese of Cleveland. He is the author of The X-Mass Files (Atmosphere Press, 2021), and The Wedding (Lambing Press, 2019).

In Pope Francis’s favorite book “The Lord of the World,” the fictional pope does not lead but rules the Church. Ecclesiastical power is centralized in his person. The Cardinal Legates are his supervisors of the local Church. Some might see a pattern here.

Several times during his pontificate the Holy Father has referred to a novel by an English monsignor written over one hundred years ago. Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson was supposedly inspired by some of H.G. Wells’ fictional futures when he wrote The Lord of the World. It was a Catholic response to the Fabian and Labourite fantasies of Mr. Wells.

The book cannot really be described as dystopian (the opposite of utopian) because there is a happy ending. However, what Benson predicted was the extreme secularization of Great Britain—where the monarchy has been abolished, the Tory party ceases to exist, euthanasia is practiced openly, and religion is marginalized. …

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