The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful . . . and What Can Be Done About It

De: Philip F. Lawler

Narrado por: Kevin Gallagher

The sex-abuse scandal, which erupted anew in 2018, poses the greatest challenge that the Catholic Church has faced since the Reformation. In The Smoke of Satan, 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 pedophilia, but of homosexual activity within the clergy.
• 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.
• 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.
• Reveals the growth of a faction within the Vatican that is ready to make peace with secularism.
• Details the charges in the explosive “Vigano testimony,” - and the efforts by Vatican officials including Pope Francis himself to ward off a thorough investigation.
• Concludes with a program for reform, led by faithful lay Catholics, demanding a new policy of candor 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 this book, 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.

©2018 Philip F. Lawler (P)2018 TAN Books

Extremely disturbing but Informative

Something evey Catholic should know and need know to face the coming storm to strengthen faith and help their family :every Catholic is facing this problem in their home parish :

Heads up Protestants

This book & several others of late are mostly about restoring the assumed rights & privileges of the old Roman Catholic Church of dictating to governments which way their “wind” blows. The RCC is not pleased with any upstart “Christian” churches doing any form of evangelism other than that authorized by their magisterium. From the author’s perspective, the sooner the Inquisition is back & governments enforce the church’s policies, the better off the world should be. Like the man wrote: Prepare for the Catholic Revival.

Recommend

Some really great insight into the corruption of the Catholic hierarchy.
A good compliment, book to Finding Viganò.

Some good insight on what we can do as laypersons are in our home parish.

loved it.

Informative. I feel ten times more informed than before. God Bless the author and narrator.

really informative!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. it really lays out the problems and the solutions!

Excellent!

Lawler hit the nail right on the head! Beautiful solutions to the problem are presented!

Fantastic book

Phil does a fantastic job of comprehensively laying out the post conciliar Quagmire we find ourselves in, while also giving us hope for the future in a smaller remnant Church

excellent!

Lawler lays out not only the problems and their sources, but an outline of solutions and ways for lay faithful to remedy the crisis.

Meh

A lot of good things but way too many false generalizations about priests who are pastors. You’d think we all have cooks, cleaning people, fancy rectories. The author should see how most of us really live! While the author has no problem belittling faithful clergy, he goes out of his way to defend Francis and engage in popesplaining. I don’t think he has any clue as to the reality faithful clergy face. He obviously has his own agenda. While he is right about many of the problems, he is intentionally blind to others, their causes, or any practical solutions. There’s a term for speaking of problems without real solutions...whining. Don’t waste your time with this book

No insights gained; waste of time and very homophobic.

Lawler is a strong writer but the conclusion that the pedophilic horrors committed by the catholic church are mostly perpetrated by members of a powerful “homosexual ring,” seems extremely homophobic. After drawing this conclusion, he then rambles on for several chapters about how traditionalists need to exhibit more leadership to counteract the dilutive effects of Vatican II when it comes to catholic doctrine. Lawler’s tone throughout is one of a fundamentalist and ideologue. Wish I could delete this book from my memory bank.