John Cornwell (writer)

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John Cornwell (1940-) is an English journalist and historian, known particularly for his science writing and books on the Papacy. He is Director of the Science and Human Dimension Project at Jesus College, Cambridge. He is an ex-seminarian, whose writings are often critical of the Catholic hierarchy. His works include A Thief in the Night, Hitler's Pope (1999) and The Pontiff in Winter (2002).

A Thief in the Night is an investigation of the death in 1978 of Pope John Paul I. Cornwell was invited by the Vatican to disprove the various allegations surrounding the Pope's death. His conclusion was that the Pope died of a pulmonary embolism rather than being murdered, but that it may have been brought on by overwork and neglect.

He conducted research in the Vatican archives on Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II. Cornwell's work was the first to have access to testimonies from Pius's beatification process as well as to many documents from Pacelli's nunciature which had just been opened under the 75-year rule by the Vatican State Secretary archives.[1] Cornwell stated in the preface to Hitler's Pope that his original objective was to vindicate Pius XII. His research resulted in a controversial indictment of the Pope.

Five years after the publication of Hitler's Pope, Cornwell had somewhat modified his views: "I would now argue, in the light of the debates and evidence following Hitler's Pope, that Pius XII had so little scope of action that it is impossible to judge the motives for his silence during the war, while Rome was under the heel of Mussolini and later occupied by Germany."[2]

In an article in The Times, he criticised Richard Dawkins and particularly The God Delusion for its tone which he considers extremist and dogmatic, as well as for alleged lapses in logic, imagination and understanding[3] and subsequently in The Guardian [4] and his 2007 book Darwin's Angel.

[edit] See also

His Autobiography is titled "Seminary Boy"

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sanchez, 2002, p. 34.
  2. ^ Economist, Dec. 9, 2004.
  3. ^ John Cornwell. A Christmas thunderbolt for the arch-enemy of religion.. Times Online. Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
  4. ^ The importance of doubt
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