by Brendan Walsh
Is it ever morally permissible to break the law to achieve a desirable end? A respectable view is that the overthrow of Nicolás Maduro was a good thing, but that the means used to achieve it were deplorable. Law professor at Notre Dame Mary Ellen O’Connell demonstrates convincingly that in ordering a military attack on Venezuela, seizing Maduro and declaring that he would “run” the country, Donald Trump acted in defiance of fundamental international law.
So what should happen next? “To restore respect for international law will not be easy,” O’Connell writes. “It will only happen if international leaders refuse to concede that such breaches are inevitable in a world in which power is increasingly equated with military might rather than dedication to principle. European leaders who have given Trump a pass on Venezuela also want the US to respect and defend Denmark and Ukraine’s fundamental rights. They cannot have it both ways. The law needs consistent and forthright support.”
In The Tablet this week we argue that while in normal circumstances promptly denouncing the US’ actions in Venezuela would be the right thing to do, proposals requiring US support that could open up a pathway to something like peace in Ukraine are delicately poised. There’s some inelegant wriggling going on, but I can – just about – sympathise with the Western leaders who are hesitating to annoy a volatile US President with waning powers of concentration.
In the news pages of The Tablet, Bess Twiston Davies and Francis McDonagh report that Pope Leo has voiced “deep concern” after the US attack on Venezuela and demanded respect for its sovereignty and for international law. “The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration,” he said after the Angelus on Sunday. It’s impossible not to share the Pope’s fears for the future of the thirty million or so people living inside the country when you read and hear their voices. The atmosphere is one of uncertainty and anxiety, with hope and relief mixed with fear, anger and mistrust. There are sharply differing takes on what is happening and what should happen next. We’ll be presenting reports to readers drawing from our network of contacts in the Church in Venezuela and beyond over the coming weeks.
No-one in the Vatican seems willing or able to give a straightforward explanation of why women cannot be permitted to be ordained as deacons. The recent letter by retired Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, who chaired Pope Francis’s second commission for the study of the diaconate of women, has affirmed that the restoration of women to the ordained diaconate is something the Magisterium – that is, Pope Leo – must decide. In Letters to the Editor, Phyllis Zagano, who served on the first commission Francis invited to study the question, writes: “One can only hope that the cardinals meeting in Rome this week will understand the damage repeated postponements and this letter have caused.”
How can the apparent conflict between the language of harmony and balance that runs through Catholic social teaching and Laudato si’ and the preying, plundering and devouring that dominates the natural world be resolved? In The Tablet cover feature Matthew Whelan draws on his recent book Christianity and Agroecology (Cambridge University Press) to hazard an answer. Abbot Hugh Allan, the Norbertine friar and director of mission for the bishops’ conference, tells Ruth Gledhill that he thinks the much-discussed surge in faith among GenZ adults really is happening. “They live in a galaxy of different opinions and different thoughts, and it’s hard for them to see what’s real,” he says. “People have a profound desire to find what’s true. Our Lord tells us, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And young people are looking for the way, they’re looking for the truth, and they’re looking for life.”
Julian Margaret Gibbs meets a young Palestinian and a young Israeli who have each lost a family member to violence. Have you heard of Bruce Marshall? Me neither, till Michael Duggan introduced him to me. His novels – classy potboilers teeming with priests and nuns toiling away in a fallen world – sold well but since his death Marshall has faded into obscurity. Duggan thinks he knows why.
On the website this morning, David Payne of CNA reports that following the shooting dead of a US citizen in Minneapolis by an immigration official, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Bernard Hebda has pleaded for prayers and calm. “We need to stop fear-filled speculation and start seeing all people as created in the image and likeness of God. That is as true for our immigrant sisters and brothers as it is for our elected officials.”
In Books, Lucy Popescu rounds up three debut novels including Florence Knapp’s beguiling The Names. Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of the Murdochian media tycoon in Pravda was one of the most intense and electrifying stage performances Mark Lawson has ever seen; Hopkins’ memoir reveals the friends and teachers he copied for this and some of his other famous roles. Alice Roberts takes Edward Gibbon’s cynical line on the rise of Christianity; Michael Carter is surprised by some of gaping holes in her reading. Carla Kaplan brings a sharp wit and droll turn of phrase to her shrewd biography of Jessica Mitford; Ariane Bankes admires the symmetry of author and her subject. And John Lewis-Stempel’s latest love song to the natural world delights Isabel Lloyd.
In Arts, Lucy Lethbridge complains that in the second series of The Night Manager the spirit of John le Carré has been flattened into a predictable and formulaic television thriller; Isabelle Grey relishes the subtle and powerful film version of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet; and D.J. Taylor enjoys a Radio 4 documentary that explores why Poems on the Underground has proved such an enduring success. The tiny protagonist of Paddington: The Musical makes a gigantic impact on Mark Lawson – as it does on Anne Booth, who in her column this week describes the show as a beautiful celebration of goodness and welcome to a stranger, as well as fabulous entertainment.
We also have Jonathan Tulloch’s nature notes and Rose Prince’s kedgeree recipe, a poem by Polly Walshe, more readers’ letters, spiritual reflections, puzzles and seven pages of news stories from correspondents in the UK, Ireland, Europe and across the world. News stories are added and updated on our website every day, where you can find the newest episode of our podcast with Ruth Gledhill and Liz Dodd, the latest blogs, Alban McCoy’s indispensable weekly sermon and details of our latest webinars and next year’s pilgrimages.
- Brendan Walsh is editor of The Tablet religion magazine, available in good bookshops and church bookstalls. Top of page picture – Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell.