The Vatican is in a stupor

[Joel S. Berson]

More recently, the Vatican has found other words to express its
stupor.  From today's NYTimes:

"On Saturday [the 26th, and thus one day later than its statement
reported in the NYTimes on that day], the Vatican secretary of state
... called the detention of bishops 'serious and unbelievable' and
compared the [Belgian] police tactics to those of Communist regimes."

    "... Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday criticized as 'surprising and
deplorable' a raid on church property last week by Belgian police
officers investigating sexual abuse by clerics.
    "In an exceedingly rare personal message and rebuke of a
sovereign nation, the pontiff also stressed the church's 'autonomy'
to conduct its own investigations ..."  [Editoral comment:  Does the
Pope mean that the Belgian nation does not have its own autonomy to
conduct investigations into church affairs about violation of "civil"
(the word used by Benedict, but surely in this case "criminal") law?]

[For those who do not read closely, the interior quotation marks
above are the Times's, meaning they are quoting the Vatican
statements directly.]

Joel

At 6/26/2010 11:07 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>Belgian police hold members of the Belgian Bishops' Conference for
>nine hours while searching for documents related to sex abuse cases,
>and drill into the tombs of two Cardinals, former Archbishops.  In a
>statement, " the Vatican said its secretary of state 'expressed great
>stupor at the way in which the seizures were conducted yesterday by
>Belgian authorities and indignation at the fact that two tombs were
>violated.' "  [NYTimes, June 26.]
>
>Did the Vatican mean "[in] A state of insensibility or lethargy"?  Or
>perhaps dementia, namely anergic stupor or delusional stupor? Or
>"Admiring wonder"?  Or "Stupidity, dullness of
>comprehension"?  [Editorial comment: perhaps "stupidity" for having
>tolerated what known abusers have perpetrated.]
>
>Well, perhaps "apathy or torpor of mind (now only, torpor or
>prostration of mind due to sorrow, painful surprise, or the
>like)"  But even this "prostration of mind due to ... painful
>surprise" is characterized as apathy, torpor (the latter being
>"Absence or suspension of motive power, activity, or feeling;
>{dag}inertia (obs.)" or "Intellectual or spiritual lethargy; apathy,
>listlessness; dullness; indifference".  [Editorial comment:  a
>revealing allusion to indifference?]
>
>Ultimately, it seems that being in a stupor and having indignation is
>an oxymoron.  Unless being held for nine hours put the bishops into a
>stupor and noisy drilling into the tombs awakened them to indignation.
>
>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org