Yes, in my opinion this book should be required reading for anyone who is seriously interested in the makeup of the "catholic" church and therefore by extension its various cultural and political agendas.

What is interesting about Ratzinger is that he readily excommunicates people such as Fox and others who quite rightly question the official party line by saying and writings things which are completely obvious to anyone who is not a right-wing "catholic".

And yet known convicted paedophiles are never ever excommunicated and have in fact be deliberately protected by the church hierarchy, including by Ratzinger himself (and the previous pope too).

Why for instance wasnt the disgraced founder of the "traditionalist" ultra-patriarchal Communion & Liberation given shelter by the church, and not handed over to the civil authorities whereby he would have been convicted of multiple known crimes, and then sentenced to jail where he would have quite rightly rotted to death.

He should have been excommunicated and stipped of his staus as a "saint". But he was of course just the tip of the iceberg of a systematic wrld-wide conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice. A conspiracy effectively orchestrated by Ratzinger himself.

According to Wikipedia, "Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error[1] "when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church"

It follows, then, that if you think the Pope is not infallible, then you are not a Catholic in good standing, and by excommunicating you the Pope is merely ratifying the decision you have already made to leave the Church.

On the other hand, if you think the whole doctrine of infallibility is nonsense, then you are on the way to becoming a rational human being, and as such you don't belong in the Catholic Church -- or any other.

So it seems to me that Barmy Benny has got the whole thing pretty well sussed.

Often the attacks on the Catholic church have come from the latte sippers. Unfortunately for them the Saville cases have uncovered the unwillingness of organisations such as the BBC to do any more in protecting children than the Catholic church. Kiddie porn watchers have also been uncovered in ABC employees and cricket commentators. The Cathoic church is wrong on many accounts and has an atrocious history. Much of its criticism however come from spite.

Faith based institution of any kind is the breeding ground for misuse and abuse.

To attack Catholic yet ignoring Christian is not addressing the real issue.

"The Pope's War by Matthew Fox adds significantly to the case that the Vatican bureaucracy, under the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, has reversed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (first convened by John XXIII) and thereby entrenched an anachronistic medieval institution."

The book does not come across as one that people will rush out to buy. Therefore, in the public interest, would Noel Preston be kind enough to list the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that Fox and he consider to have been reversed.

" ... at the same time corrupting the church by supporting what many allege are secretive (and 'fascist') organisations within the church (eg. Opus Dei)."

Would Noel Preston care to explain how Opus Dei corrupts the Church.

Runner, paedophilia is disgusting no matter who is involved.

However, the BBC, ABC and cricket commentator staff you mentioned never held themselves out there to the community as pillars of the community and of good holy moral standing, who were doing the 'work' of their God.

The Catholic Church did though.

That's why these self proclaimed 'servers of The Lord' paedophiles ' are more loathed than those from other organizations.