I recently reread "The Age of Voltaire" and was struck by how persuasive Durant makes Pope Benedict XIV in the "Dialogue" at the end, allowing Voltaire to make a few quips and observations now and then, but allowing Benedict to steer the discussion. And yet to my mind Durant makes his Benedict sound like Dostoyevski's "Grand Inquisitor" where you're not really sure he genuinely believes the tenets of his faith, but he does take great pains in emphasizing the role of religion in providing consolation to the bereaved, respect for the "poor and uneducated", and stability for the "social order". While I myself am a religious person, Benedict's defense of religion seems to focus less on issues of "truthfulness" and more on its ability to provide stable social order and provide "distractions" for the poor. With the conservative appeal of his argument, it's no wonder that Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. Durant has Benedict speak to Voltaire "as one philosopher to another" and thus you suspect Benedict has lost his faith just like the Grand Inquisitor, and makes you wonder (or at least me) whether Benedict's social stability reflects a civilizing bent, or more darkly, a means of effecting power and control over a docile flock? The conflict between the philosophers and the priests in Voltaire's 18th century France makes you wonder why anti-clericalism seems to be more evident in Catholic countries.
