Hugh Hewitt:
Catholics in America are getting quite an introduction in agenda journalism today, as report after report sells the liberal line about the new pope. I devoted all three hours of my radio broadcast to Catholic callers' reaction to the new pope today, and only one of scores of calls was negative. This doesn't prove anything about the reaction within the entire American Church, but the downgrading or total absence of the perspective of joy at the succession of Benedict XVI among American Catholics is an indictment of the MSM's professional abilities. They cannot believe that the vast majority of American Catholics will approve of this new pope, so that possibility is left uninvestigated.
[...]
The refusal of even a single day's honeymoon for the new pope from the scribblers of the left tells us a lot about the folks who work on editorial boards, and also a lot about diversity in America's newsrooms. Are there even five traditional, Mass-attending and confession-going writers among the five editorial boards sampled above? Is there even one who would step forward to defend the Church's teaching on human dignity and sexuality? There are tens of millions of American Catholics full of joy at yesterday's news, but do they have any voice within elite MSM at all?
You are completely and totally wrong. The MSM has been covering the Pope-a-thon with sympathy and an uncritical eye nonstop for weeks. The MSM is in control of the Right, not the Left. Hewitt is part of the disinformation that helps to persuade morons and bigots that the Left is in charge of everything. In fact, the opposite is the case.
ReplyDeleteIf the MSM was anti-Catholic (and why shouldn't they be? Catholics are a minority. The will of the people is certainly not Catholic!)...they would ignore all this nonsense at the Vatican. When the Orthodox Church, Muslims, or any other religion (especially a liberal religion) have a major event, the MSM takes a nap.
There's been nothing but flattery and exhaltation of the Catholic Church and a complete absence of critical reporting.
Who do you think you are fooling?
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/507fhotp.asp
ReplyDeleteTHE MEDIA clichés are already hardening around Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, just hours after becoming Pope Benedict XVI. Will they brook any dissent from the caricature they're drawing?
"German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, was elected Pope on Tuesday despite a widespread assumption he was too old and divisive to win election."
--Reuters
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the church's leading hard-liner, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium."
--William J. Kole, Associated Press
"Thanks for your emails both sympathizing and telling me to leave the Church entirely. But I am still in shock. This was not an act of continuity. There is simply no other figure more extreme than the new Pope on the issues that divide the Church. No one. He raised the stakes even further by his extraordinarily bold homily at the beginning of the conclave, where he all but declared a war on modernity, liberalism (meaning modern liberal democracy of all stripes) and freedom of thought and conscience. . . . His views on the subordinate role of women in the Church and society, the marginalization of homosexuals (he once argued that violence against them was predictable if they kept pushing for rights), the impermissibility of any sexual act that does not involve the depositing of semen in a fertile uterus, and the inadmissability of any open discourse with other faiths reveal him as even more hardline than the previous pope."
--Andrew Sullivan
"And what
is the creed of the Church? That is for the Grand Inquisitor to decide."
--Andrew Sullivan
"And so the Catholic church accelerates its turn toward authoritarianism, hostility to modernity, assertion of papal supremacy and quashing of internal debate and dissent. We are back to the nineteenth century."
--Andrew Sullivan
" A man of deep personal faith who choked up as he delivered the homily at Pope John Paul II's funeral, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger also has alienated some Roman Catholics with his zeal in enforcing church orthodoxy."
--Melissa Eddy, Associated Press
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a hard-line doctrinal watchdog, was elected by Roman Catholic cardinals in Vatican City today as the successor to the enormously popular John Paul II as pope for the world's one billion Catholics. . . . The Catholic Church is hugely divided and many of its members are seriously disaffected."
--Daryl Strickland, Los Angeles Times
"In the Vatican, he has been the driving force behind crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination."
--CNN
" Joseph Ratzinger, the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, turned 78 last Saturday and is widely expected to maintain John Paul II's deeply conservative line."
--London Telegraph
"Hardline Catholics got their man Tuesday, when the College of Cardinals elected its dean, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as the 265th pope. . . . Ratzinger is generally considered to have been a driving force behind several of the Catholic Church's strictest and most social divisive moves in recent years. In particular, he has held the line on homosexuality, women's ordination, and the vein of progressive thinking known as liberation theology. Going into the secret conclave, many observers wondered whether the cardinals would seek a kind of compromise figure, but that was not to be."
--Rema Rahman, Village Voice
"Hard-liner Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected the leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics after the conclave of 115 Cardinals ended Tuesday evening."
--Newsweek
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a hard-line guardian of conservative doctrine, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium."
--MSNBC
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a strict doctrinal conservative who believes the church should hold fiercely to its fundamental beliefs against the pressures of secularism, emerged from St. Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI today."
--Ken Dilanian and Matthew Schofeld, Knight Ridder
Update, 4/20/05: "Some analysts describe Ratzinger as the leader of the neoconservative faction."
--Sylvia Poggioli, National Public Radio (April 15, 2005)
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the new Pope Benedict XVI, worked in close partnership with his predecessor and shared a belief in staunchly defending orthodox Catholic doctrine. There is no reason to expect any change, of course, for the church when it comes to matters like birth control, priestly celibacy or homosexuality. Those are issues of faith, properly left to the faithful. On matters of public policy, however, all of us have reason to be concerned about the opinions of the leader of more than one billion Catholics."
--Editorial, New York Times
"Roman Catholic cardinals reached to the church's conservative wing on Tuesday and chose as the 265th pope Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a seasoned and hard-line German theologian who served as John Paul II's defender of the faith."
--Ian Fisher, New York Times
"His experience under the Nazis--he was 18 when the war ended--was formative in
his view of the function of the church, [John L. Allen Jr.] said. 'Having seen fascism in action, Ratzinger today believes that the best antidote to political totalitarianism is ecclesiastical totalitarianism,' he wrote. 'In other words, he believes the Catholic Church serves the cause of human freedom by restricting freedom in its internal life, thereby remaining clear about what it teaches and believes.' Totalitarianism, indeed, critics might say."
--Daniel J. Wakin, New York Times
"Some liberal Catholics and interest groups criticized the choice as a lost opportunity to move the church in a less doctrinaire direction because the new pope, a conservative German who was close to the late John Paul II, has long held hard-line positions on many divisive issues, including birth control, homosexuality and the ordination of women."
--Dean E. Murphy, New York Times
"But as the international reaction to the death of Pope John Paul II demonstrated . . . the leader of the Catholic Church has extraordinary political and moral influence around the world. There are areas in which the new pope could have a tremendous impact, on both Catholics and non-Catholics, in this country and everywhere else, for better or for worse."
--Editorial, Washington Post
"The quick election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger speaks quiet volumes about what cardinals seek from the new pope: a stable interregnum after 26 years under the charismatic Pope John Paul II. Benedict XVI will hold to the late pope's theologically conservative line, but he won't do it all that long, giving the church a breather in which to plan its future. . . . The church is sadly putting off a change in worldview and retaining its Eurocentric focus. By failing to pick a pope from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world, the church reinforces the impression that it is a colonial enterprise, run in Europe by Europeans who see themselves as uniquely qualified to serve as God's interlocutor."
--Editorial, Los Angeles Times
"Sadness for Gay Catholics"
--Headline, San Francisco Chronicle
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a rigid enforcer of Catholic doctrine over the past two decades and a close personal friend of the late Pope John Paul II, was chosen Tuesday as the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He took the name Pope Benedict XVI. The unusually rapid election of Ratzinger, who turned 78 on Saturday and starts his papacy as the oldest pope in more than a century, appears to signal a desire by the church to continue the strict conservative policies of John Paul II and provide its leaders with a transitional reign before taking on the daunting issues of the 21st century."
--Don Lattin, San Francisco Chronicle
"Ratzinger, a 78-year-old prelate who is one of the most controversial figures in the Catholic Church because of his hard-line stances against what he views as dissidence in the church, then appeared in his new papal white robes covered by a red cape. He beamed and waved his clasped hands."
--Michael Paulson, Boston Globe
"Cardinal Ratzinger's choice was sure to be controversial because of his unbending orthodoxy on fundamental doctrinal issues as well as his World War II record as a member although mandatory and unenthusiastic of the Hitler Youth."
--John Phillips, Washington Times
Jonathan V. Last is online editor of The Weekly Standard and a contributor to the blog Galley Slaves.
More Left wing Pope bashing:
ReplyDelete(hat tip HUGH HEWITT)
From the Washington Post: "There's less reason to hope, perhaps, that Pope Benedict XVI will rethink policies that we believe have harmful effects, but it's fair to point out that it's not only Catholics who suffer from some of those. Certainly we hope that the pope's admirable profession of "adult faith" does not mean that the church must continue to impede the distribution of condoms in Africa and in other developing countries, where greater use could inhibit the spread of AIDS and prevent thousands of premature deaths."
From the New York Times: "On matters of public policy, however, all of us have reason to be concerned about the opinions of the leader of more than one billion Catholics."
From the Boston Globe: "But the election of Pope Benedict XVI raises concerns among Protestants who felt slighted by Ratzinger during their attempts at ecumenical dialogue. The National Catholic Reporter notes that Ratzinger has discouraged the presence of Islam in Europe. He has been quoted as saying it would be ''a grave error" to admit Turkey, a largely Muslim nation, to the European Union. He also discouraged Asian priests from examining non-Christian religions for commonalities. It is unclear how the new pope will rebuild church attendance in Europe and the United States. No one expected the College of Cardinals to ruminate on priestly celibacy or women priests when choosing a pope. But US Catholics will continue to ponder such topics and connect them to priest shortages and parish closings. In Latin America and Africa, growth areas for the church, many Catholics worry more about poverty than about priests who push the ecclesiastical envelope."
From the Los Angeles Times: "The church is sadly putting off a change in worldview and retaining its Eurocentric focus. By failing to pick a pope from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world, the church reinforces the impression that it is a colonial enterprise, run in Europe by Europeans who see themselves as uniquely qualified to serve as God's interlocutor.... He is used to working behind the scenes, serving as the pope's doctrinal enforcer. As such, he has been a largely polarizing force in the church, coming down hard on Catholic leaders who sought social justice in Latin America or dissented from the Vatican in their teachings."
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Greater roles for women, a more welcoming posture toward gays and lesbians, and a moderation of views on sexuality, genetic research, euthanasia or contraception to prevent AIDS -- none of these is likely to gain ground under Benedict. As a Vatican official, he also opposed Turkey's entry into the European Union, forbade German Catholics from sharing communion with Lutherans at a joint gathering in 2003, and failed to hasten the prosecution of American priests involved in child abuse...'If he were elected, thousands upon thousands of Catholics in Europe and the United States would roll their eyes and retreat to the margins of the church,' the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a Notre Dame theologian, had predicted earlier this week."
No editorialist has yet compared Benedict's succession from John Paul II to the Andropov/Chernenko interregnum between Brezhnev and Gorbachev, but given the overwhelming hostility of the American media elite to the announcement of Benedict XVI's election, it will only be a matter of time. Already there is more projection of liberal hopes onto the theologically-rooted papacy. "Benedict XVI will hold to the late pope's theologically conservative line," wheezed the Los Angeles Times, "but he won't do it all that long, giving the church a breather in which to plan its future."
As I noted yesterday, even if Benedict XVI doesn't live to be 95 --which he could-- it will take only one round of his appointments to the College of Cardinals to protect the next conclave from the retreat from truth that the editorialists in America want so deeply. As I noted yesterday, 48 of the cardinal-electors are 74 or older, meaning they will not vote on the next pope if the new one reigns for a half dozen years. I will watch for the first set of cardinals elevated by Benedict XVI. In that roster will be John Paul II's legacy of stability.
The refusal of even a single day's honeymoon for the new pope from the scribblers of the left tells us a lot about the folks who work on editorial boards, and also a lot about diversity in America's newsrooms. Are there even five traditional, Mass-attending and confession-going writers among the five editorial boards sampled above? Is there even one who would step forward to defend the Church's teaching on human dignity and sexuality? There are tens of millions of American Catholics full of joy at yesterday's news, but do they have any voice within elite MSM at all?
Not that it matters, except that it helps explain why the Los Angeles Times lost another 5% of its circulation in this week's report, dropping it below 1968 levels, even as the state it serves moved from 19.5 million to 35 million in population. The country's opinion elite has become uniformly shrill and predictable, and the left margin of the political spectrum it represents, deeply hostile to all that Roman Catholicism as understood by John Paul II and Benedict XVI represents. It is hard to sell newspapers to Roman Catholics when your contempt for its tenets and leaders drips from every page.
But at least the faithful these days can go to RomanCatholicBlog, The Anchoress, GalleySlaves, Professor Bainbridge, Amy Welborn's Open Book, The Corner, and EagleandElephant for word and reaction from their colleagues among the faithful. No wonder John Paul II welcomed the internet.
BTW: There is much talk of Benedict XVI having been the "enforcer" of Catholic doctrine, as though somehow that is exceptional or wrong-headed. MarkDRoberts, a protestant theologian, has a great take on the Catholic approach to teaching. Roberts also directs us to an essay on the new pope by Richard John Neuhaus. I am looking forward to the next entry in Neuhaus' Rome Diary.
When Ratzinger and the rest of the Cardinals inform their followers that, after they shed all their humbug and mumbo jumbo, they are fundamentally following the jewish faith then the messaih might come...
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