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TheIndian EXPRESS

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l THURSDAY l FEBRUARY 14 l 2013

13

Fading of the papal monarchy

The claim of priests and popes to be the sole conduits of grace is a remnant of a receding era
in eternal truths. A gift for eternal truths is as dangerous as the gift of Midass touch. The pope cannot undo the eternal truths he has proclaimed. When Pope Paul VIs commission of learnedandloyalCatholics,layandclerical, reconsidered the natural law teaching againstbirthcontrol,andconcludedthatit could not, using natural reason, find any groundsforit,CardinalAlfredoOttaviani, the secretary of the Holy Office, told Paul that people had for years, on papal warrant, believed that using a contraceptive wasamortalsin,forwhichtheywouldgoto hell if they died unrepentant. On the other hand, those who followed church teaching were obliged to have many children unlesstheyabstainedfromsex.Howcould Paul VI say that Pius XI, in his 1930 encyclicalCastiConnubii,hadmisledthepeople in such a serious way? If he admitted it, what would happen to his own authority as moral arbiter in matters of heaven and hell? So Paul VI doubled down, adding anotherencyclicalin1968,HumanaeVitae, to the unrenounceable eternal truths that pile up around a moral monarch. In our day, most Catholics in America have reached the same conclusion that Paul VIs commission did. But successive popes have stuck by Pius and Paul and have appointed bishops who demonstrate loyalty on this matter. That is why some American bishops in the recent presidential election said that President Obama was destroying religious liberty if his health plan insured funds for contraception. Nonetheless, more Catholics voted for Obama than didnt. In a normal government, this disconnect between rulers

GARRY WILLS

THERE is a poignant air, almost wistful, to electing a pope in the modern world. In a time of discredited monarchies, can this monarchy survive and be relevant? There is nostalgia for the assurances of the past, quaint in their charm, but trepidation over their survivability. In monarchies, change is supposed to come from the top, if it is to come at all. So people who want to alter things in Catholic life are told to wait for a new pope. Only he has the authority to make the changeless church change, but it is his authority that stands in the way of change. Of course, the pope is no longer a worldly monarch. For centuries he was such a ruler, with all the resources of a medieval or Renaissance prince realms, armies, prisons, spies, torturers. But in the 19th century, when his worldly territories were wrested away by Italy, Pope Pius IX lunged toward a compensatory moral monarchy. In 1870, he elicited from a Vatican council he called and controlled the first formal declaration that a pope is infallible. From that point on, even when he was not making technically infallible statements, the pope was thought to be dealing

WILL THE new conclave vote for a man who goes against the teachings of his predecessors? Even if they do, can the man chosen buck the structure through which he rose without kicking the structure down? These considerations have given the election of new popes the air of watching Charlie Brown keep trying to kick the football, hoping that Lucy will cooperate. The power structure will not be changed by giving it new faces. Monarchies die hard.
football, hoping that Lucy will cooperate. As this election approaches, some hope that the shortage of priests, and their damaged reputation and morale, can be remedied by adding married priests, or women priests, or gay priests. But that misses the point. Whatever their sexual status,theywillstillbepriests.Theywillnot be chosen by their congregations (as was the practice in the early church). They will be appointed from above, by bishops approved for their loyalty to Rome, which will police their doctrinal views as it has with priests heretofore. The power structure will not be changed by giving it new faces. Monarchies die hard. In 1859, John Henry Newman publishedanarticlethatledtohisdenunciation

C R SASIKUMAR

andruledwouldbenegotiated.Buteternal truths are non-negotiable. WistfulCatholicshopethatonthisand other matters of disagreement between thechurchasPeopleofGodandtheruling powersinthechurch,anewpopecanremedy that discord. But a new pope will be elected by cardinals who were elevated to office by the very popes who reaffirmed eternaltruthsliketheteachingoncontraception.Theywereappointedfortheirloy-

alty, as were the American bishops who stubbornly upheld the contraception nonsense in our elections. Will the new conclave vote for a man who goes against the teachings of his predecessors? Even if they do, can the man chosen buck the structure through which he rose without kicking the structure down? These considerations have given the election of new popes the air of watching Charlie Brown keep trying to kick the

in Rome as the most dangerous man in England. It was called On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, and it showed that in history, the laity had been more true to the Gospel than the hierarchy. That was an unacceptable position to Rome. It still is. Pope Benedict XVI, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was asked if it did not disturb him that Catholics disagreed with the rulings of Rome. He said no that dogma is not formed by majority rule. But that is precisely how it was formed in the great councils like that at Nicaea, where bishops voted to declare dogmas on the Trinity andtheIncarnation.Therewasnopopeinvolved in those councils. Yet they defined the most important truths of the faith. Jesus, we are reminded, said to Peter, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. But Peter was addressed as a faithful disciple, not as a priest or a pope. There were no priests in Peters time, and no popes. Paul never called himself or any of his co-workers priests. He did not offer sacrifice. Those ideas came in later, through weird arguments contained in the anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews. The claim of priests and popes to be the sole conduits of grace is a remnant of the era of papal monarchy. We are watching that era fade. But some refuse to recognise its senescence. Such people will run peppily up, like Charlie Brown, to the coming of a new pope. But Lucy, as usual, still holds the football. Wills,a Pulitzer winning journalist and historian, is the author of Why Priests? The New York Times

JACOB GOLDIN AND ROHIT LAMBA

Why, irrespective of the outcome, the US governments lawsuit against Standard & Poors is good for the credit ratings industry
AFTER years of speculation, the United States department of justice filed a lawsuit against Standard & Poors, the worlds largest credit rating agency, to the tune of $5 billion last week. The 128-page document places the actions of S&P front and centre in the events of 2008 that brought down the market for residential mortgagebacked securities, leading to the global financial crisis. According to the justice department, S&P is liable for such a large fine because it knowingly, and with the intent to defraud, devised, participated in and executed a scheme to defraudinvestorsthosemarketparticipants who relied on its credit ratings to guide their investment decisions. To date, the rating agencies have largely avoided accountability for their role in the financial crisis through a combination of favourable legal precedentandtimiditybytheauthorities.But recent judicial decisions in the US suggest that the defences successfully relied upon by rating agencies in the past, includingthefreedomofthepressunder theFirstAmendment,maybelesseffective going forward. The lawsuit is anything but timid. These developments bodewellforthefutureofthecreditratingsindustryandthusforfinancialmarkets throughout the world. To understand how the S&P lawsuitwillimprovethecreditratingindustry, lets go back to basics. A credit ratings agency is a group of financial analysts and journalists who evaluate the quality of the debt issued by governments and firms. They come up with a creditratingthatsummariseshowlikely the entity is to pay back what it borrows. Both Moodys and Poors (which later mergedwithStandardStatisticstoform The fundamental flaw in this rapS&P) got their start by selling info- idly growing market was that, as secrmation to investors. In the 1970s, how- urities became more complex, the acever, the industry shifted its business quisition of information by private model towards borrowers, charging investors became increasingly costly, them a fee for each security they rated. causing greater reliance on credit ratS&Ps defence will be based on this ing agency assessments. With a burchange: it merely disseminated opin- geoning market for mortgage-backed ions that issuers sought; investors did securities, demand by institutional innotpaythemandwerenotboundtoad- vestors for top-rated securities outstriphere to their opinions. ping supply, and the agencies being The role of the paid for every rating credit rating agencies they handed out to in the financial crisis CREDIT RATING the issuers (whether stemmed from the companies have always accurate or not), the proliferation of new incentives all around tried to assuage securities backed by were severely investor concerns about skewed. Credit rating residential mortgages during the misaligned incentives agencies had an in2000s. Take a bunch by promising that the centive to provide of housing loans, put credit-rating process is favourable ratings to them in a glass, and securities, lest they shake. Just as mixing objective and unclouded lost business. There is sand and gravel with by improper concerns. enough evidence to water in a middle Lawsuits like this one join the dots and conschool science exper- force a rating company clude that credit ratiment produces clear ing agencies fuelled layers after the to put its money where the crisis.. The quespieces settle down, its mouth is. tion though remains, the new housing loan should theybeliable? instruments had layers called tranches, The government has its work cut defined by the probability of their be- out to win the lawsuit. In particular, it ing paid back. Slicing tranches from must show (among other things) that different securities and shaking them S&P intentionally deceived investors together produced even more com- about its credit-rating process; that is, plex instruments. Because these new that it promised investors the process securities were often formed through was objective, while secretly analysing complicated combinations of thou- the securities creditworthiness with an sands of individual residential loans, eyetowardsitsownprofit.Theevidence assessing their creditworthiness was offered so far suggests the government no small task. Yet, credit rating agen- has some hope of proving the claim. cies were happy to provide favourable Most striking are internal communicaratings to the new instruments. tions in which employees voiced concern that the company was allowing improper financial incentives to cloud what was supposed to be an unbiased analysis. S&P has responded that the governments evidence is taken out of context, and at this point it is simply too soon to know who is right. But whether or not the government wins its case against S&P, its decision to file the lawsuit creates a winwin scenario for the functioning of the credit ratings industry. On the one hand, the misaligned incentives generated by the rating agencies business model were no secret before the lawsuit. A victory for S&P could restore investors shaken confidence in the analysis underlying its ratings. If, instead, the government is victorious, investors will be able to rest more easily when relying on a companys credit ratings. Credit rating companies have always tried to assuage investor concerns about misaligned incentives by promising that the credit-rating process is objective and unclouded by improper concerns. Lawsuits like this one force a rating company to put its money where its mouth is; signalling the governments willingness to intervene when a credit agency promises unbiased analysis but does not deliver. Put differently, it tacks a steep price onto what could otherwise be cheap talk. Goldin is a research scholar at the department of economics at Princeton and is studying law at Yale. Lamba is a research scholar in economics at Princeton and an economist at the office of the chief economic advisor, Union ministry of finance

Credit where its due

Tele SCOPE
SHAILAJA BAJPAI

For now, it is behaving more like a public broadcaster and less like a government loudspeaker
IN RECENT weeks, Kashmir has been in Saw a discussion with Muhammad Shafi the news for one reason alone: the (National Conference), Nizamuddin Bhat weather. We have been shown the Valley (PDP), Prakash Javadekar (BJP) and acaresplendent in white, with tourists enjoydemic Varun Sahni, on Monday. ing the snow; then the snow hardened into The taglines for the channel are ice as temperatures fell below freezing Khabar vahi jo ho sahi and Bharosa and you were glad to be able to admire the Bharat ka. Most of us will have a problem scenery from afar. accepting such tall claims although it must Now, suddenly, the stain of blood has be said, DD eschews the hysterical tone seeped into the idyllic scene like ink on blot- and repetitive quality of private TV news ting paper, taking us back to a place and channels. DDs news is the news of the day, time we had thought was behind us: Just in: its just that it tilts windmills to the governcurfew in Kashmir, Just in: violent clashes ments news. Take your pick. in Sopore (NDTV 24x7), Just in: Yasin Not quite sure what has prompted this Malik shares platform with Hafiz Saeed. sudden urge to be more open, nor how Should his passport be taken back? Cable long the experiment will last with elecnews, internet and mobile services have tions looming on the horizon. But anybeen suspended in the state since Afzal thing that encourages DD News to beGuru was hanged on Saturday to prevent have more like a public broadcaster and people from learning about events in the less like a government loudspeaker must state. You wonder, for how long can the aube applauded. Applause. thorities contain a people thus? Emotional Atyachaar (Bindass) also Over the weekend, TV channels also seems to have had a makeover in its new handled with utmost care season. Two recent episodes any news coming out of featured young women who OVER THE weekend, Kashmir of protests had been duped by men in against Gurus hanging, real life, recounting their TV channels handled lest they became the next experiences, with reconwith utmost care any victims of government structed flashbacks putting news coming out of censorship. So, although us in the picture. As a Kashmir of protests all the channels reported sympathetic, almost handagainst Gurus hanging. holding, anchor Pravesh the general sense of outrage in the Valley and his All the noise has been in Rana prompts them to refamilys reactions, alveal all, the ladies talk about the TV news studios. though they allowed polititheir own naivete, the ducians from the mainstream What else is new, or plicity of the men conto express their anguish what else is news cerned and how they, fiChief Minister Omar Abnally, settled scores with nowadays but the dullah, PDP leaders like them. Earlier, if you reclashes in the studios? Mehbooba Mufti we member, men and women did not see or hear from would watch footage of the common man and woman, or directly their beloved betraying them and their affrom Gurus family. The protests since then fections with actors sent out to seduce them. have received similar treatment. At best, Perhaps the gangrape of a young woman in theres a correspondent standing in a deDelhi has stirred the conscience of the proserted street, recounting the days events. ducers of Emotional Atyachaar. All the noise has been in the TV news stuCNN-IBNs big break with the audio dios. What else is new, or what else is news CD on alleged conversations between the nowadays but the clashes in the studios? CBIs public prosecutor in the 2G scam and One channel where you never expect to Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra was fascinathear anything more violent than a cough is ing to listen to. Quite a coup. Applause. DD News. But do we have news for you. Applause rang out at the Grammy DD News has changed and suddenly, it is Awards (VH1) and the BAFTAs (PIX) on looking all too familiar and rather like the Monday. The Grammy show is a superbly other news channels. In the evening, the mounted mix of music and celebrity with news bulletins are no longer manned by the performances and well known singers, usual newsreaders. Now the likes of Ajai from old timer Sting to current heartShukla, who used to be a face on NDTV, throb, Kelly Clarkson, combining for a host News Night with lively discussions on great music fest. the days news yes, even on Afzal Gurus hanging featuring all shades of opinion. shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com

Fast forward at DD News

AFZALS SENTENCE
THE Sangh Parivar weeklies have delayed their reaction to the hanging of AfzalGuru.ThelatestissueoftheOrganiser, however, throws light on how Afzalsdeathmayhavealsolaidtorestone of the issues the saffron ranks used to beat the Congress with. This is clear from a special report that seeks to insinuate that Congress eye on polls to delayAfzalhanging.Thereportclaims that a large chunk in the Congress was in favour of delaying taking a final calloncarryingoutthedeathsentenceof Afzalfearingthatitsvotebank,particularly among the minorities, might be disturbed if the death sentence is carried before the general polls. While the Organiser used this issue to accuse the Congress with minority appeasement, for Panchjanya, Afzals hanging was noteven worth a mention. The report in the Organiser flies in the face of fact, because Afzal was hanged just before the issue went to press. For theirpart,theOrganiserandPanchjanya will now have to inform their readers.

View from the RIGHT

MODI, MAMATA AND AKHILESH
THREE separate reports in Panchjanya and the Organiser expose the saffroncampspredicamentinthecountry, moving from west to east Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. With the Sangh Parivar owing some of its credibility among the middle classes to the larger-than-life image of Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendraModi,bothweeklies feature Modis speech at the Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi. The Parivar, however, appears to cling to the old issues at the core of its Hindu revivalism in order to revive its fortunes in politically critical UP, where theBJPhasbeenthrowntothepolitical margins. Panchjanya has given prominence to a report from Meerut, alleging rampant cow slaughtering making theGangaredwithbloodwhilesaints take their dips in Allahabad. The articleallegestheAkhileshYadavgovernmenthasallowedthebutcheringofcows withcasesofarson,spreadingcommunalism, loot and rioting against socalled cow protectors in western UP. But in West Bengal, where the BJP has never been a significant player, the Parivar sees a conspiracy by the CongressandtheLeftagainstMamataBanerjee, who was once part of the NDA and recently quit the UPA. A special focus report in the Organiser seeks to downplay the remarks of an influential Muslim cleric who said Banerjee was lyinginclaimingtohavefulfilledmostof her promises to the minority community.Thearticle,instead,seekstoproject this as veiled Muslim warnings (to) spoilsocialfabricandappearstoappeal on Banerjees behalf that she has 42 months to deliver on her promises and that the community should not get restive. It also seeks to shore up the Banerjee government by claiming that her rural base (has) not tilted.

RAM TEMPLE
THE issue of the Ram temple at Ayodhya gets a lot of space in Panchjanya in the wake of the VHPs fresh assertion during a congregation of saints at the Maha Kumbh. An editorial reports the observation of a Supreme Court judge during the hearing on an appeal by the CBI in the case against L.K. Advani and other saffron leaders about their alleged role in the demolition of the Babri mosque. The observation that the CBIs counsel should desist from calling the 1992 episode a national crime has been highlighted by the editorial as an example of the CBIs prejudice under the Congress government. The editorial seeks to hurl the issue at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. It says that, had the Congress been reflective of the DNA of India, it would also be agitated by the alleged razing of the Ram temple centuries ago. It accuses the Congress of being guided by the DNA of Babar. Compiled by Ravish Tiwari