After Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass for the Feast of the Lord's Baptism in the Sistine Chapel versus Orientem, the Media were full of outraged denunciations. "There were all those young families there for their babies' baptisms", they cried, "and he turned his back on them".
Pope Francis committed the same outrage this year, but a lengthy search on the Internet has not enabled me to locate the Media outcry.
Have I got to live in frustration until this Friday's Tablet reveals Pepinster incandescent? I can't wait. Not that I will actually buy a copy.
I get such an immense spiritual uplift and solid Catholic education from your posts, Father. I cannot thank you enough. reading your thoughts and instruction I am reminded of Daniel 12:3:
ReplyDelete"But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity."
Such are those who arise in the times of which Daniel prophesied.
More evidence, if any is needed, that we ought not to form our judgments based on the mostly uninformed narratives that the secular media seems addicted to.
ReplyDeleteTwo days ago it was...Francis speaks against abortion...because of the need to appease conservative critics (!!).
I really don't think it's malice. Part of it comes real igorance, the need to cram every act into a political convervative/liberal template, and part of it is the need to impose something sensational because, ultimately, the media's bread and butter comes from advertising, who pay by the number of eyes on the copy.
Catholics should know better. We certainly have no excuse not to...there's a Vatican website that can take us to the actual words, in context, and documents, in a fraction of a second. But why bother when there's Buzzfeed?
In an article in the Irish Independent Colette Brown breathlessly draws the conclusion that Pope Francis is “a traditional Catholic after all…”
ReplyDeleteWhat perspicacity – the Pope is Catholic!
Of course Ms. Brown goes on to lament that the Church is still “homophobic and misogynistic” and so out of tune with the enlightened secularism of modern-day Ireland.
O tempora! O mores!
A vignette from the visit my wife and I made to Istanbul (I mean, Constantinople) a couple of years ago, as we were guided with a group through the Blue Mosque:
ReplyDeleteMe: Excuse me, Mr. guide, may I ask a question?
G: Yes, of course.
Me: When the Imam leads the faithful in prayer, which direction does he face?
G: Why, toward Mecca, of course, as does everyone else.
Me: But do the faithful think he is turning his back on them?
G (with look of pity for such a dolt): Why no, of course not, why do you ask such a question?
Me: Oh, it's just a Catholic thing.
It is always a comfort to me when I see the driver of the bus facing the same direction as I am . . . I don't mind his back at all. And the press never seem outraged at this either. Curious.
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