The Most Misunderstood Pope in History

By Michael Voris

(ChurchMilitant.TV) Hello everyone and welcome to The Vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed. I’m Michael Voris.

Did you hear the reports saying the Pope said God doesn’t REALLY exist? Or did you see the headline that said the Pope said all that matters is overthrowing world economic markets?

Those might as well be the headlines, because they are just about as valid as any of the other stuff being trotted out under the banner “WHAT THE POPE SAID TODAY”.

Really, this nonsense has got to stop. From Rome on down to the Catholic blogasterium, to the secular press to Catholics on Facebook and so forth.

This pope has an off-handed way of talking. Ok. Does he guard his every word and consider that he should be much more circumspect in what he says and to whom? It’s clear its not his style. No, he doesn’t do that.

He talks a lot – and that’s who he is. And he has perhaps in little more than a year, become the most ill-quoted and misrepresented Pope in the history of the Church.

Does he need to stop talking to so many people in such an off-handed fashion. That argument could be made somewhat easily. But face it, he aint gonna do that.

So, Catholics around the world need to stop going crazy and just ignore much of this reporting until a few days have gone by after a reported strange comment.

Consider that in just one 24 hour period earlier this week, the Vatican had to release not one but two statements clarifying that Pope didn’t say that, or this is what he meant to say.

One was about the “interview”, which the Vatican said wasn’t really an interview at all with Italian atheist journalist Scalfari, in which Scalfari said that the Pope said there were pedophile cardinals and bishops.

Now whether that is true or not isn’t the point. It wouldn’t be surprising, but the larger point is that the Vatican said , hold on a minute, that’s not entirely accurate about what the pope said.

Then less than a day later, a Vatican official issued yet another clarification saying the Pope is not against market economies like is being reported all over the place.

Then of course there is the report from a Protestant minister in Rome who says that the pope says they – the protestant congregation – are deserving of an apology from the Catholic Church for being so overbearing with the Catholic presence in Rome.

The list of this someone says that the pope says (fill in the blank) is growing monotonous.

What’s growing even more monotonous in the third rate uninformed chatter on the blogs about all this.

Some people go crazy thinking a heretic is one the throne of Peter AND then the Church of Nice crowd feels the need to be even more imbecilic and provide a non-stop treatment of “THIS is what the Pope really means”.

And frankly, both sides are being ridiculous. Why?

Because, even the VATICAN ITSELF doesn’t know what the pope said and then has to run around and try to find out and put out all kinds of fires, whipped up in part by Catholics.

For example, a few months ago – in an interview the Pope was asked a question by an Italian journalist about the issue of civil unions.

Now the term “civil unions” has an ENTIRELY different meaning in Italy and other parts of Europe than it has in the English speaking world – especially America. Here of course, someone says civil unions and everyone thinks – homosexuality.

But in Europe it refers to the rather common practice of a heterosexual couple being married civilly by the state BEFORE being married in the Church. In the US, the priest is BOTH a witness for the Church AND an agent of the state – which is why the wedding license is signed quietly just before the ceremony.

The secular press ran giant headlines. The blogs went wild, repeating the secular headlines saying the Pope was okaying homosexuality. The Church of Nice went wild back, offering horribly reasoned defenses of what the Pope was “really saying” and finally the Vatican had to issue YET ANOTHER clarification – saying everyone had gotten it wrong.

What’s the moral of the story. Forget the headlines, forget the blogs by the Church of Nice crowd, forget the knee jerk stupidity and just chill out and wait for the ACTUAL facts, or correct translation, or appropriate clarification to be issued.

GOD Love you.

I’m Michael Voris.

Link:

• The Most Misunderstood Pope in History

Catholic blogosphere: Council looks at promoting charity, truth online

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

...Talking about the Catholic blogosphere, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said, "I have been appalled by some of the things I've seen; of course, I've been the object of some of them."

Being Christian, he said, means treating others like Jesus treated people: reaching out to all and exercising extreme caution when making judgments.

"One of the side effects of the new technology that frightens me a bit is that people can hide behind a fake facade and then start shooting cannons at other people," the cardinal said.

One of the pontifical council's consultants, Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, the head of Canada's Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, said the Internet and blogs have brought about a "radicalization of rhetoric," even among Catholics.

The Web site of Salt and Light Television, he said, sometimes receives hundreds of comments on a story.

"Many we don't publish because of the filth and some we've turned over to the police" because of the threats they contain, he said.

Asked to address the council about Catholic media in North America, Father Rosica said, "On the Internet there is no accountability, no code of ethics and no responsibility for one's words and actions."

So many Web sites and bloggers who call themselves Catholics focus so much on negative stories and messages that increasingly "Christians are known as the people who are against everything," he said.

Cardinal Mahony said the sharp and often uncharitable divisions among Catholics seen on the Internet was particularly pronounced during the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign.

And, he said, the campaign was not exactly a high point for unity among the U.S. bishops either.

During the campaign, Cardinal Mahony said, "I sensed a dangerous shift away from unity in faith and faith practice to differing opinions on this party or the other party, which I think is a very, very dangerous path to go down."

Some people could get "the impression that some bishops are very much in favor of one political party over the other, which should not be," he said. He added that when it comes to applying the Gospel to social questions bishops should be models for the Catholic faithful on how to hold a civil discussion, online or offline.

"You don't have dialogue when people anonymously throw out their hatreds, their prejudices, their biases and always -- in every case -- end up attacking people," the cardinal said.

• Link