{"id":95839,"date":"2012-10-23T13:38:06","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T17:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=95839"},"modified":"2012-10-23T22:26:59","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T02:26:59","slug":"ap-knows-what-the-pope-really-thinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2012\/10\/ap-knows-what-the-pope-really-thinks\/","title":{"rendered":"AP knows what the Pope really thinks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I was at a meeting of a journalism fellowship program I\u2019m part of this weekend. We heard from Sam Feist<\/a>, CNN\u2019s DC bureau chief. <\/p>\n

So, earlier in his career, he\u2019d written some copy for the on-air talent to read for that night\u2019s show. The line was something like \u201cClinton believes that the tax bill will pass.\u201d The guy who was supposed to read the line \u2014 he happened to be an old-school journalist with little time for silliness \u2014 excoriated him. He told Feist that a reporter can never know what a politician thinks, believes or feels. The reporter can only know what the politician says. Politicians might be telling you something for any number of reasons. It might be because they believe it. It might be because they want to send a particular message to the opposition or to the ground troops. It might be for any number of reasons. But a reporter can\u2019t know what someone believes. He can only know what the source says. (The old-school journalist said this rule goes double for buildings, such as \u201cThe White House believes\u201d or \u201cThe Vatican is hoping.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Good reporting might be able to put the quote in context, but it\u2019s important that the reporter start by going with what the source says.<\/p>\n

I thought of that when I read the first paragraph of this Associated Press stor<\/a>y on big news in the Roman Catholic Church this weekend:<\/p>\n

VATICAN CITY (AP) \u2013 Some 80,000 pilgrims in flowered lei, feathered headdresses and other traditional garb flooded St. Peter\u2019s Square on Sunday as Pope Benedict XVI added seven more saints onto the roster of Catholic role models in a bid to reinvigorate the faith in parts of the world where it\u2019s lagging.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This seems to be a variation of the \u201cbelieves\u201d edict from above. Unless the Catholic Church has stated that they canonized these seven saints just to \u201creinvigorate the faith in parts of the world where it\u2019s lagging,\u201d why would the reporter say that?<\/p>\n

Later we\u2019re told:<\/p>\n

The canonization coincided with a Vatican meeting of the world\u2019s bishops on trying to revive Christianity in places where it\u2019s fallen by the wayside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At first it was just lagging. Now we\u2019re talking about those places in the world where Christianity has completely fallen by the wayside! Where are those places? Is it in those places where it\u2019s illegal to be Christian or convert to Christianity? Apparently Christianity has \u201cfallen by the wayside\u201d in the places mentioned below (and I have to say, I think that\u2019s hyperbole or a terribly problematic word choice in most of the locations listed):<\/p>\n

Several of the new saints were missionaries, making clear the pope hopes their example \u2014 even though they lived hundreds of years ago \u2014 will be relevant today as the Catholic Church tries to hold on to its faithful. It\u2019s a tough task as the Vatican faces competition from evangelical churches in Africa and Latin America, increasing secularization in the West and disenchantment due to the clerical sex abuse scandal in Europe and beyond.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m sorry, but as a Lutheran who almost named my daughter after an early martyr \u2014 even though she lived and died more than 1800 years ago<\/em> \u2014 that first sentence is cracking me up. <\/p>\n

I mean, I guess I understand the point being made, but it\u2019s a line that is just so very foreign to how the church operates and how Christians learn from the saints who have gone before. But you\u2019ll notice that \u201ctries to hold on to its faithful\u201d sentiment again. It\u2019s just odd considering the entire lack of substantiation for it from anyone, much less anyone affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Or as one reader put it:<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mind the quote marks around \u201cmiracle\u201d, at least on the first use of the term, since I don\u2019t expect the AP to believe the miracle anymore than I\u2019d expect them to believe a miracle emanating from another faith. However, the constant editorializing \u2014 sans any quote or data, not even from Fr. Reese \u2014 about how the saints seem to be just to keep up a flagging faith gets tiresome.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anyway, I\u2019m less willing to give a pass on the \u201cmiracle\u201d quotes just because it seems redundant here:<\/p>\n

Among the few people chosen to receive Communion from the pope himself was Jake Finkbonner, a 12-year-old boy of Native American descent from the western U.S. state of Washington, whose recovery from an infection of flesh-eating bacteria was deemed \u201cmiraculous\u201d by the Vatican.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think that readers are smart enough to figure out that the line \u201cwas deemed miraculous by the Vatican\u201d means that the event was, you know, \u201cdeemed miraculous by the Vatican.\u201d <\/p>\n

But no, sometimes we need quotes to let us know that this is just the view of the particular group, but since the word \u201cdeemed\u201d is in the phrase, I think it\u2019s unnecessary. But I\u2019m one of those logical people who, if I dressed up for Halloween this year, would be dressing up as \u201cscare quotes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Benedict XVI picture via vipflash<\/a> \/ Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was at a meeting of a journalism fellowship program I\u2019m part of this weekend. We heard from Sam Feist, CNN\u2019s DC bureau chief. So, earlier in his career, he\u2019d written some copy for the on-air talent to read for that night\u2019s show. The line was something like \u201cClinton believes that the tax bill will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12,1,24,48],"tags":[170,172,171,15474],"class_list":["post-95839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-religion","category-uncategorized","category-world","category-worship","tag-canonization","tag-kateri","tag-pope-benedict-xvi","tag-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nAP knows what the Pope really thinks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was at a meeting of a journalism fellowship program I'm part of this weekend. We heard from Sam Feist, CNN's DC bureau chief. 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