In the past two days, Anglophone media have sort of played up an item claiming 'the Vatican' condemns Halloween as anti-Christian. And I ignored it, as usual, because the attribution to the Vatican was, once again, erroneous. But this item examines how such items get to be reported as the latest 'Vatican idiocy' - and touches an essential aspect of present-day reporting about the Church, the Vatican and the Pope.
Vatican condemnation
of Halloween is false
Nov. 1, 2009
In what is a common occurrence that happens more than you think, the media again has done a poor job of reporting the news that emanates from the Vatican. If it came from the Vatican at all. The new one today is that the Catholic Church condemns Halloween, or some variation there of.
Various news outlets have reported that the Pope, the Catholic Church, or the Vatican have condemned, blasted, slammed, or as the
Times of London said, “reserved their venom for the millions of parents who allowed their children to celebrate this “pagan” festival.”
And people say anti-Catholicism doesn’t exist?
Apparently some reporter of London’s
Telegraph read on the
L’Osservatore Romano newspaper based in Rome, Italy, that Halloween is anti-Christian.
L’Osservatore Romano is sometimes referred as the “semi-official” or even “official” newspaper of the Vatican, ie, the Catholic Church.
First of all, it has an independent editorial board that has connections with the Vatican, hence the confusion of whether it is an official or semi-official mouthpiece of the Vatican. My personal opinion is that it is semi-official, if that.
[It is run from the Secretariat of State, but it has always described itself as an unofficial organ of the Vatican, even if its primary purpose is to be a record of the Pope's activities. Its daily feature Nostre Informazioni, which lists the Pope's daily appointments, as well as nominations of bishops and positions in the Curia and various Vatican agencies] and papal texts, is considered to be the only official feature of the peper. Even the papal texts and documents that it publishes are not considered the formal official versions of these texts, which are to be found only in the Acta Apostolicae Sedae (AAS).]
L’Osservator Romano covers all of Pope Benedict XVI”s public activities, publishes editorials by prominent clerics and laypeople, and runs official documents from the Vatican. The fact that it publishes editorials by prominent clerics does not mean that it is official, standing policy of the Vatican. Only the Vatican via it’s official documents can do this.
Hence the confusion when editorials are run that can be confusing to most non-Catholics and even Catholics themselves. Even the secular website Wikipedia entry about L’Osservatore Romano notes that these mistakes often happen:
A common error for journalists and theologians is to interpret the texts of L’Osservatore Romano as if they were of official value for the Magisterium. In fact, they cannot have such a value, except if a high-ranking bishop is writing a more solemn text, and not a mere theological opinion... [Even such texts become official only if and when formally approved by the Pope] ...
For instance, a 2008 article expressed the wish that the debate on brain death be re-opened because of new developments in the medical world. An official spokesman said that the article presented a personal opinion of the author and “did not reflect a change in the Catholic Church’s position”.
More importantly the article that reported the Vatican condemning Halloween in
L’Osservatore Romano quoted a Father Joan Maria Canals, CMF, a liturgy official with the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.
As Jack Smith of
The Catholic Key Blog reports:
Now there is a fellow named Fr. Joan Maria Canals, CMF, a liturgy official with the Spanish Bishops’ Conference who has been pushing the idea that as Spain appropriates this U.S. holiday it ought to do so in a life affirming way as opposed to celebrating the occult and death. Catholic News Agency wrote about that effort and similar efforts in France and Chile.
I expect
L’Osservatore wrote a similar report. I’m certain the Pope didn’t comment in the article. Unfortunately,
L’Osservatore does not archive their articles, so the first sensational or misrepresentative press piece about any article in L’Osservatore becomes the 'primary' source – no other source being available.
So there you have it.
A quote from a priest in Spain reported in an Italian newspaper read by an Englishman who then reported it as fact that the Vatican condemns Halloween.
Any generally harmless popular celebration is acceptable to Catholics if it is not abused. Halloween is one of them - and it is up to Catholic families in countries where Halloween has become a popular observance to teach their children what it is - it did originate as a celebration of All Hallows - to relate it to the Catholic celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, and to warn them of the weird and unholy associations that non-Christians can attach to it.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/11/2009 19:13]