The Smoke Of Satan: How Corrupt And Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, And The Faithful...And What Can Be Done About It by Philip F Lawler

Paperback: The sex-abuse scandal, which has erupted anew in 2018, poses the greatest challenge that the Catholic Church has faced since the Reformation. In The Smoke of Satan (2018), veteran Catholic journalist Philip Lawler explains why the crisis is even more severe than when it first commanded headlines in 2002, and how the failure of Church leaders goes all the way to the Vatican.    

In this unflinching look at the crisis threatening the Church and her members, Lawler shows how the sex-abuse scandal is not a question of paedophilia, but of homosexual activity within the clergy. He explains how Catholic bishops have developed a habit of covering up serious problems, to avoid the serious divisions that have developed within the faith since Vatican II. He demonstrates a catastrophic rupture in Church unity, causing a breakdown in morale and discipline among priests, bishops, and laity, paving the way for the current crisis.

He also reveals the growth of a faction within the Vatican that is ready to make peace with secularism and details the charges in the explosive "Vigano testimony," and the efforts by Vatican officials including Pope Francis himself to ward off a thorough investigation. He then concludes with a program for reform, led by faithful lay Catholics, demanding a new policy of candour and a forthright proclamation of Church teaching.  

This crisis, brought about by the failures of corrupt and cowardly bishops and clerics, has been allowed to fester long enough. It is well past time for serious action to be taken at every level before more lives are ruined, more souls are lost, and more fractures divide the Church.   

In these pages, Lawler details the problems besetting the Church and lays out a clear plan to overcome them in order that the Church and Her members may once again thrive and bring souls to Christ.

About the author: Philip F Lawler, the editor of Catholic World News, is one of America's most incisive Catholic journalists and commentators. A graduate of Harvard College, he has been the editor of Crisis magazine, the Boston Pilot, and Catholic World Report. He is the author of Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture (2008), a penetrating analysis of the scandals that brought the Church to its knees in America, and co-author of A Call to Serve: Pope Francis and the Catholic Future (2013). The father of seven and grandfather of twelve, Lawler lives in central Massachusetts with his wife, Leila, a popular Catholic blogger.