21st Century Inquisition vs America’s nuns

 Last April the Vatican took away self-government from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the organization that represents and speaks on behalf of most American nuns, because it was unhappy with the group’s focus on social issues  -- a focus described as too “political.” The punishment followed the recommendations of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a direct descendant of what was once known as The Inquisition.
     Many have criticized the Vatican for this action against the American nuns. One of the most eloquent criticisms is from Garry Wills in the June 7  issue of the New York Review of Books.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Wills’s excellent commentary:
     “ The Vatican has issued a harsh statement claiming that American nuns do not follow their bishops’ thinking. That statement is profoundly true. Thank God, they don’t. Nuns have always had a different set of priorities from that of bishops. The bishops are interested in power. The nuns are interested in the powerless.  Nuns have preserved Gospel values while bishops have been perverting them . . .
     “. . . The Vatican says that nuns are too interested in “the social Gospel” (which is the Gospel), when they should be more interested in Gospel teachings about abortion and contraception (which do not exist). . .”