The Vatican Council: From Atheism to Analysis

In the course of discussing Schema 13 on the church in the modern world, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council last week got around to a touchy question: What should be the Catholic attitude toward atheism?

The most militant answer came from the new Jesuit General, Father Pedro Arrupe. What "the Black Pope" had to say shocked a number of progressive bishops and theologians. Arrupe charged that there is an atheistic conspiracy at large in the world that "holds almost complete sway in international organizations, in financial circles, in the fields of mass communications: press, cinema, radio and television." Even worse, he warned, this atheistic mentality "enters the very territory of the City of God, insidiously influencing the minds of believers (including even religious and priests) with its hidden poison, and producing its natural fruits in the church: naturalism, distrust, rebellion."

In a Crusade. To counteract the great conspiracy of the godless, Arrupe urged the council to draw up a basic plan for "worldwide coordinated action," to be followed by Catholics in a crusade against atheism, under "absolute obedience to the Pope." The Supreme Pontiff would then "assign various fields of labor to everyone, in order that the entire people of God may give itself vigorously to this task."

Had such a speech been delivered by a known ecclesiastical reactionary, the response would probably have been a few smiles and shrugs of resignation by bishops and periti in the coffee bars at St. Peter's. That such an approach should be taken by Arrupe, a learned Basque with a reputation for liberality, produced more puzzlement than anything else. At a press panel, American Theologian John J. King bluntly called Arrupe's summons to crusade "unfortunate." Other Jesuits noted that Arrupe did not reflect a consensus of the society. "I think his speech was naive," said one Jesuit professor in Rome. "It was a speech by a man who doesn't understand the situation. His language was that of the old Roman papal bulls, which talked about going out under the banner of Christ. Of course, if you take it literally, it's absurd."

Out of the Abbey. On the other side, Franziskus Cardinal König of Vienna, head of a new Vatican secretariat for dealing with nonbelievers, argued that the attitude of the church toward all men of good will—including atheists—should be one of dialogue, not damnation. And Mexican Bishop Sergio Méndez Arceo of Cuernavaca suggested that the church should pay tribute to the views of a renowned atheist whom it has long deplored: Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Bishop Méndez argued that Freud's teachings constitute "a useful method of purification" and should be taken into account in the redrafting of Schema 13. Said he: "There is no field of pastoral activity where psychoanalysis is not useful."