B16's media Calvary continues-
and it may have gotten worse
The last thing I wanted was for this site to become a repository of reproaches for the injustices done - mostly, wittingly, and sometimes perhaps, unwittingly - to Benedict XVI by irresponsible media reporting and pundit chatter, but I felt it was necessary to counteract immediately any such injustice or worse, outright lies and misrepresentations.
If it was bad while he was Pope, I did not imagine how terrible it could be now that there is a new Pope who is seen by the media as the paragon of all virtues - and he may well be so - but the media present him in a way that implies he is everything Benedict XVI was not.
The freshly-discovered virtues of one man do not suddenly cancel out the known and proven virtues of another man, especially when these virtues were, until recently, praised by some of those who now seem to think - or convey by their mindless words - that Benedict has no virtues at all. More than just the usual amnesia of opportunity is at work here -it's a pathological need to see anything new as 'good', and everything old as 'bad' and deserving of nothing but total oblivion.
When Benedict XVI was elected, the opprobrium heaped on him by MSM was unspeakable because he was seen by them as a weak and far inferior successor to a man who was SANTO SUBITO. Most of those who thought of him that way continued to do so during the last eight years, and were, of course, the first to nail him mercilessly for
not suffering to the end of his days as Pope like his sainted predecessor. even though they did not like what he was doing and opposed everything he stood for - especially preaching God to a secular world and insisting on the rightness of certain non-negotiable principles not based on Catholic teaching alone but on natural law.
One would have thought that after he retired, they would stop making him their punching bag and doormat. But no, unlike Nixno, they still have him to 'kick around'.
After Pope Francis was introduced to the world yesterday, I already remarked on the terrible things that were being implied about Benedict XVI by the chorus of hosannahs for the new Pope. As someone who was a complete unknown to the media, the latter does not have the preconceptions and caricature that media had built of Joseph Ratzinger over two decades before he became Pope. Pope Francis comes in with a blank slate, as far as they are concerned, on which they are free to write whatever they want.
But the image they have constructed of the Church is so black - on the basis of pedophile priests, Vatileaks and presumed Vatican corruption - that they are so ready to see in anyone but Benedict - or anyone else who might have been elected yesterday instead of Francis - someone who will somehow confront these problems and restore the 'Church in ruins', as if Benedict XVI had done nothing about the problem, or worse, as if he had caused the ruin.
They have made Benedict's Pontificate the black hole into which they have dumped everything that was already wrong which he inherited (and had been warning about for two decades) - plus all the minor ills they could concoct to burden him with like Regensburg and Williamson - and it's a literal black hole as in physics in which not the slightest point of light survives, all light is absorbed and extinguished.
Consider the terribly mindless memes that have been repeated endlessly just on the two TV channels I watch - EWTN and Fox News - memes that begin with priests, monsignors and bishops, and are then amplified by lay news anchors and commentators.
So, someone like Fr. Jonathan Morris at FoxNews, who is a Legionary of Christ priest, gushes on - and he is typical of all the rest. About how the new Pope will finally "clean out all the dysfunction and corruption in the Vatican", because "first, you must have a clean house, before you can begin to present yourself to the world".
Doesn't Morris realize how anomalous it is that he, who belongs to Father Maciel's order, can say that so sanctimoniously?
Who cleaned out Maciel's house, to begin with - which was one of the largest stains on the face of the Church that Cardinal Ratzinger so decried in the Good Friday meditations and prayers of 2005, filth that he never ceased to clean up since he got the authority in 2001 to deal with the sex abuse cases?
Or about Pope Francis's humility, "the very image of the Christianity that this Pope will project to the world", according to Morris. What image of Christianity did Benedict XVI project to the world? Arrogant? Triumphalistic? False? Shameful?
Or that as Cardinal, the new Pope had warned against 'Church careerism', which Morris adds, "is exactly what is wrong with the Roman Curia".
At least a couple of books have been published in Italian compiling Benedict XVI's various homilies and exhortations to priests and bishops against such careerism and other practices that undermine the spiritual life of priests.
As far as
what the new Pope thought of the Curia - and the media - when asked about it in a February 2012 interview about the time that Vatileaks was gathering steam in the news (that I will reproduce in full after this, because in it, he acknowledges all that Benedict XVI has been trying to do in the Church), consider this:
Can you tell us how the Roman Curia is perceived from the outside?
I see it as a body that gives service, a body that helps me and serves me. Sometimes negative news does come out, but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal.
Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia: which is a sin that taints all men and women, that is, the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects.
The Roman Curia has its down sides, but I think that too much emphasis is placed on its negative aspects and not enough on the holiness of the numerous consecrated and lay people who work in it].”
Coming from now Pope Francis, does that not demolish all the relentless fustigation of the Curia in the past several months by everyone and his mother? But what do they care - I bet no one will even resurrect the interview, much less quote from it, because it is so not the narrative they have constructed!
Do the media realize that the new Pope considers their worst elements
coprophilia (morbid obsession with feces) and therefore fomenting
coprophagia (eating feces) among their consumers?
EVERYONE PLEASE TAKE NOTE! If Cardinal Ratzinger had ever used those terms, he would have been irrevocably and absolutely condemned to eternal damnation by the international media en masse!
Here is the full interview with then Cardinal Bergoglio, as I posted it on Page 291 of this thread (near the bottom of the page). I suspect, from the lack of reaction to it (or even cross references to it thereafter), I was among the few who noticed, or cared:
What starts out as something along the 'pious pattern' of most interviews with high-ranking prelates ends up being very direct
and provocative on the media-shaped culture of the day and its impact on Church affairs.
Cardinal Bergoglio on
careerism and vanity among men of the Church,
and the affliction of journalistic coprophilia
by ANDREA TORNIELLI
Translated from the Italian service of
February 29, 2012
A rare picture of Cardinal Bergoglio and Benedict XVI together.
VATICAN CITY - In the recent consistory, held in the midst of polemics over leaked confidential files from the Vatican Secretariat of State, Benedict XVI had intended to discuss the New Evangelization with the College of Cardinals.
He also called them back to the spirit of service and humility.
The Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jesuit Jorge Maria Bergoglio, whose family came from Turin, is one of the leading figures of the Latin American episcopate. In his diocese, the Church has for some time now gone out into the streets, the public squares, bus and train stations, in order to evangelize and administer the sacraments. Vatican Insider asked him for an interview, to comment on the work of the consistory and the words of the Holy Father.
What do you think of the Pope's decision to decree a Year of Faith and to insist on the New Evangelization?
Benedict XVI insists on priority for the renewal of the faith, and presents the faith as a gift to be handed on, a gift to offer, to be shared in an act of free giving.
It is not a possession but a mission. This priority indicated by the Pope has a dimension of remembrance. With the Year of Faith, we remember the gift we have received. It rests on three pillars: remembrance of having been chosen, the memory of the promise that has been made to us, and the Covenant that God made with us.
We are called to renew that Covenant, our belonging to the people who are faithful to God.
What does evangelization mean in a context like that of Latin America?
The context is that which emerged in the fifth conference of Latin American bishops in Aparecida in 2007
[keynoted by Benedict XVI, who defined the continental mission] which called us to a continental mission. So the entire continent is in a state of mission. Programs are being carried out for this, but above all there is the paradigmatic aspect. all the ordinary activities of the Church are framed in this spirit of mission.
This implies a very strong tension between the center and the periphery, between the parish and the neighborhood. The Church must go out of itself towards the periphery. It must avoid the affliction of a self-referential Church - she becomes sick when that happens.
It is true that by going out into the street, as it is for a person,
we can meet with an accident. But of the Church remains closed in herself, self-referential, she ages. Between a Church exposed to risks which is out in the streets, and a Church afflicted with self-reference, we can only choose the first.
What has been your experience in Argentina, and particularly, in Buenos Aires?
We seek to reach out to those families who do not take part in parish life. Instead of being just a Church which receives those who come to us, we want to be the ones to go out towards the people, those who do not know the Church or who have stopped coming, who have gone away. in fact, or those who are simply indifferent.
We organize missions in the public squares, where people usually gather anyway - and we pray, we celebrate Mass. We offer Baptism which we administer after a suitable brief preparation. This is what we do in the parishes, in the entire diocese. We also seek to reach more people through digital communications and the Internet.
In addressing the consistory and later in his homily the next day, the Pope emphasized that the cardinalate is a service, and also that the Church is not built in isolation. What did you think of his words?
I was struck by the image evoked by the Pope, who spoke of James and John and the internal tensions among the first followers of Jesus over who among them should be first.
This indicates that certain attitudes, certain discussions, have always been present in the Church, from her very beginnings, And this should not scandalize us.
The cardinalate is a service, not an honorific to boast about. Vanity, being vain about oneself, is an attitude of the worldly spirit, which is the worst sin in the Church. This is an affirmation that we find in the final pages of Henri de Lubac's
Méditation sur l’Église.
Spiritual worldliness is religious anthropocentrism which has gnostic aspects. Careerism, the search for self-advancement, is very much part of that worldliness. I often say, to exemplify the fact of vanity: "Look at the turkey - how beautiful it is when you see it from the front. But if you take a few steps and look at it from behind, you see the reality". So whoever yields to self-referential vanity fundamentally hides a deep misery.
[Mons. Vigano and so many other self-promoting prelates, are you reading this?]
What must the authentic service of a cardinal consist of?
Cardinals are not the agents of an NGO
[non-governmental organization. perhaps one of the most unwieldy constructions - not just verbally but even conceptually - ever devised by the United Nations]. They are servants of the Lord, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who creates the distinctions among the various charisms, but leads them all to unity within the Church.
The cardinal should enter into this dynamic of the differences between charisms, and at the same time, look at their unity, knowing that the author of the differences as well as the unity is the same Holy Spirit. And I think a cardinal who does not get into this dynamic is not the kind of cardinal that Benedict XVI means.
This consistory took place during a difficult time. of great tension because of the documents leaked from the Vatican. How do the Pope's words help to deal with this reality?
The words of Benedict XVI help us to live through this reality from the perspective of conversion, changing heart. I was glad that the consistory was held on the threshold of Lent. It is an invitation to look at the Church who is both holy and sinful, to look at her shortcomings and sins, without losing sight of the holiness of so many men and women who are within the Church even today.
I should not be scandalized because the Church is my mother: I should look at her failings and faults as I look at my mother's failings and faults. And when I think of the Church, I remember above all the beautiful and good things she has done, not so much her failings and defects. We defend our mother with a heart full of love more than with words. And so I ask whether those who get too much into these 'scandals' have any love for the Church at all.
Can you tell me how the Roman Curia is perceived from the outside?
As far as I am concerned, I see and experience it as an organ of service, an organ that helps and serves me. Sometimes, one gets news that's not good, often amplified and even manipulated for scandal's sake.
Newsmen often run the risk of becoming afflicted with coprophilia [a morbid fondness for excrement], and thus encouraging coprophagia [literally, eating crap, excuse the language!] and that's a sin that afflicts many men and women today. Which is, to prefer to concentrate on the bad things and not the good. -
[Thank God! Cardinal Bergoglio has hit upon the precise term for the worse-than-muckrakers, without the vulgarity of describing their muck as 'crap'!]
The Roman Curia has its faults, but it seems to me that only the bad is underscored, while ignoring the holiness of so many consecrated persons and laymen who work there.
Wise words from a man whom at least 20-30 cardinal-electors in the 2005 Conclave voted for as the 'non-conservative' alternative to Joseph Ratzinger.
And then, there's Sandro Magister who cannot live with the thought that Benedict XVI could be called Pope Emeritus, in this excerpt from a lengthy article he has on 'the agenda for the new Pope', among which, in his view, this 'issue' takes priority:
THE TWO POPES
The role that he will acknowledge for his living predecessor will be one of the first decisions that the new Pope must make. It may seem a minor matter, but it is pregnant with historical consequences.
Firmly rejected by canonists [ALL CANONISTS, or simply the couple of them whose essays denouncing the title and mode of address Magister has generously posted for his readere], the title of Emeritus Pope applied to Benedict XVI has been so rashly encouraged by those around Ratzinger in his retirement, but is even more useful to those, within and outside the Church, who wish to ruin the Papacy theologically and juridically. [So now, Benedict XVI has allowed himself to be the instrument for ruining the Papacy!]
Therefore, the next official edition of the Annuario Pontificio [the Catholic Church annual directory of all who serve in the Vatican and in the various dioceses and parishes of the world] = which beyond listing the known titles of the new Pope, will also define that of his predecessor - will be attest of primary importance.
This is the kind of sinister backstabbing against Benedict XVI that I fear we shall have to live with for some time to come.
I would like to make clear that, in this Forum, as in the other two that I was part of earlier, I joyfully undertook the task of helping to chronicle the life and Pontificate of Benedict XVI. It continues to be a joyful one whenever I find or post anything positive about this unique figure - who is sui generis par excellence and by definition - and whom I cannot thank enough for the unprecedented spiritual upliftment and joy he has brought to my whole life, whose essence is my faith in God and being Catholic. I do not intend nor feel called upon to follow another Pontificate because that is not why I became involved in the Forums to begin with.
Outside of content that directly or indirectly concerns Benedict XVI and his Pontificate, I will limit myself henceforth to posting only about events that are significant in the life of the Church that a good Catholic must be aware of. Pope Francis will be more than amply and extensively chronicled by all the media, and has the singular grace of starting out with them unencumbered by any negativity.
God bless the Pope, and God bless Benedict XVI.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/03/2013 17:17]