{"id":111703,"date":"2013-10-04T09:22:43","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T13:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=111703"},"modified":"2013-10-04T09:22:43","modified_gmt":"2013-10-04T13:22:43","slug":"tailor-pope-their-notions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/","title":{"rendered":"Economist, New York Times tailor pope to their notions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

One of the fascinating things about Pope Francis is the apparent mad rush among mainstream media scribes to recast the Bishop of Rome in their image, particularly if the image is in any way left-leaning, or, at the least, non-rightward-facing. After the conservative Blessed John Paul II and the conservative Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Jose Maria Bergoglio is now positioned in some media quarters as the Vatican\u2019s version of the Barack Obama of 2008: At last, pontifical \u201cchange we can believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Economist<\/em>\u2018s Erasmus blog<\/a>, is not exactly a hotbed of Christian, or Catholic, fundamentalism. It recently focused on Pope Francis\u2019 interview with the editor of Italy\u2019s liberal\u00a0La Repubblica<\/em> daily, the \u201catheist journalist, Eugenio Scalfari,\u201d who elicited from the pope some rather hard words about a Vatican \u201cbubble\u201d that may have enclosed previous occupants of the Chair of St. Peter:<\/p>\n

It was striking for the warmth of the \u201csmall talk\u201d in which the two men engaged (they gave each a metaphorical embrace over the telephone while arranging to meet) and also for the pope\u2019s devastatingly insightful comments on the corrupting effects of power, especially clerical power. \u201cHeads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.\u201d How true. This can also apply to prime ministers, head teachers, generals, perhaps even some newspaper editors (not the brilliant ones I\u2019ve met, of course). But the pomp and circumstance of religious authority can be especially corrosive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nor, one might suggest, is the Roman Catholic Church the only ecclesiastical body where the top leader is, well, cosseted by praise and pomp while holding office, only to find themselves in a lonely place after a sudden departure. In the past 15 years, this writer has witnessed exactly that happen in two (very different) Christian organizations \u2014 one just a few months ago \u2014 and I\u2019m guessing there are many similar stories elsewhere in religion-land. But I digress.<\/p>\n

Ersasmus\u2019 author, identified only as \u201cB.C.\u201d in a byline, moves beyond the \u201ccourt\u201d talk to zero in on something truly important to many wondering about where Pope Francis will lead his global flock:<\/p>\n

The comment from Francis that upset religious traditionalists was this: \u201cEveryone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Economist<\/em> then notes the discomfiture<\/a> of Rod (Friend of this Blog) Dreher and others about what was an almost-universalist turn in Francis\u2019 phrasing. On the contrary, Erasmus argues, we should view the pontiff\u2019s words through the prism of the Pampas:<\/p>\n

Yet the pope is not merely being fashionably modern (or post-modern) when he recognises integrity in people whose metaphysical views are different from his own, and detects dishonesty among people of the church. He is speaking out of his own experience of living through an urban guerrilla war and an exceptionally brutal dictatorship in his native Argentina.\u00a0He hints at this in his exchanges with the editor, recalling his youthful encounter with a communist professor, later killed by the military. He didn\u2019t accept her materialist world-view but he did respect her as a \u201ccourageous and honest\u201d person. Doubtless he was also deeply disappointed by the clerics who fawned on the dictators.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Erasmus appears to have forgetten that Francis isn\u2019t a tweedy, pipe-puffing college professor or the proprietor of an ecclesiastical Algonquin Round Table<\/a>. He is the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and as such apparently feels the need to get as many people as possible to\u00a0hear<\/em> what he\u2019s saying so that his message can\u00a0reach<\/em> out to them. Relatability seems to be Francis\u2019 stock-in-trade, and, after whatever remoteness some perceived in Benedict, it\u2019s not a bad thing.<\/p>\n

There is, however, a difference between respecting the views of others and\u00a0accepting<\/em> those views as equal, or making a friendly remark about folks getting along into a vote for syncretism of some kind. It\u2019s nice to \u201cmake the world a better place,\u201d but nothing in Francis\u2019 comments suggests that should be the end of the matter. If Scalifari didn\u2019t press the point, the\u00a0La Repubblica<\/em> editor not only missed an opportunity, he also gave Erasmus (and others) leeway to pigeonhole Francis in a way the pope might not want to be classified.<\/p>\n

A day earlier, Jim Dwyer of\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, whose beat is interesting people stories, and not religion, played the \u201cleprosy of the papacy\u201d card in his \u201cAbout New York\u201d column<\/a>\u00a0about two nuns,\u00a0Sister Camille D\u2019Arienzo and Sister Helen Prejean, the latter of \u201cDead Man Walking\u201d fame.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For many American Catholics, especially for the women in religious orders, the new pope has been a jolting, rejuvenating presence. Just 18 months ago, a Vatican report on the largest organization of women\u2019s religious orders in the United States declared that there were \u201cserious doctrinal problems which affect many in Consecrated Life.\u201d Among their faults, the report found, was that they had been insufficiently energetic in promoting Catholic teaching on abortion, sexuality and family life. The organization was put under the supervision of an archbishop selected by Rome.<\/p>\n

Now there is a pope who has said that when it comes to abortion and same-sex marriage, \u201cit is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.\u201d The church\u2019s highest calling is to be with the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized in society, he said.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I haven\u2019t combed through\u00a0every<\/em> word the pope has said, but I\u2019m willing to guess that he believes the church\u2019s \u201chighest\u201d calling is to preach the Gospel and make disciples. Social service is laudable and necessary, but without the essential Christian message, there\u2019s no church \u2014 the church is just another charitable agency.<\/p>\n

Oh, wait, didn\u2019t Francis already say that<\/a>? Why yes, yes he did, and just one day after being elected:<\/p>\n

Without faith in Christ\u2019s sacrifice on the cross, the church is nothing more than a \u201cpitiful NGO,\u201d Pope Francis said in his first homily as pope.<\/p>\n

\u2026 \u201cBuild with living stones, anointed by the Holy Spirit,\u201d the pope said. \u201cConfess Jesus. If we don\u2019t do that, we will be a pitiful NGO (non-governmental organization).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, ah, perhaps this pope\u00a0is<\/em><\/strong> Catholic, after all. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s something often skimmed over in the breathless reporting of how different\u00a0this<\/em> leader is from his predecessors. Yes, there\u2019s absolutely a difference in style, tone and methodology of outreach: more Twitter, less\u00a0ex Cathedra<\/em>. To draw from that stylistic change that Francis is \u201cbreaking\u201d with Catholic doctrinal tradition seems a bit of a journalistic stretch, at least at this point. Journalists need to be more careful about the facts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the fascinating things about Pope Francis is the apparent mad rush among mainstream media scribes to recast the Bishop of Rome in their image, particularly if the image is in any way left-leaning, or, at the least, non-rightward-facing. After the conservative Blessed John Paul II and the conservative Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1629,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,7,18,12,24],"tags":[1851,2379,2380,1814,326,2381,2378,1167,982],"class_list":["post-111703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-journalism","category-people","category-religion","category-world","tag-blessed-john-paul-ii","tag-economist","tag-helen-prejean","tag-la-repubblica","tag-new-york-times","tag-ngo","tag-pope-emeritus-benedict-xvi","tag-pope-francis","tag-pope-john-paul-ii"],"yoast_head":"\nEconomist, New York Times tailor pope to their notions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the fascinating things about Pope Francis is the apparent mad rush among mainstream media scribes to recast the Bishop of Rome in their image,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economist, New York Times tailor pope to their notions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the fascinating things about Pope Francis is the apparent mad rush among mainstream media scribes to recast the Bishop of Rome in their image,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-04T13:22:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/files\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-urbi-et-orbi.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Kellner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Kellner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/\",\"name\":\"Economist, New York Times tailor pope to their notions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-04T13:22:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-04T13:22:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/a9959112ba23257dcfe6835566c57be4\"},\"description\":\"One of the fascinating things about Pope Francis is the apparent mad rush among mainstream media scribes to recast the Bishop of Rome in their image,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/10\/tailor-pope-their-notions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Economist, New York Times tailor pope to their notions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\",\"name\":\"GetReligion\",\"description\":\""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - 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