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Bishop Jose H. Gomez, ordained by Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization favored by the Vatican, was named to lead a predominantly Hispanic archdiocese. The pope chose Gomez to succeed a retiring 25-year archbishop seen in many ways as a legend among progressives — but also a prelate who faced scrutiny over his handling of clergy sexual abuse cases and questions over what some critics labeled his shaky moral theology.
If you read a daily newspaper somewhere in the United States, other than New York City, and you care deeply about the latest wave of clergy sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church, then you may have spotted the following Associated Press report about the case of Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul of India.
Just when you thought that the relationship between the Vatican and the mainstream press couldn’t get any worse, the powers that be at MSNBC had to grit their teeth and issue a public apology for the fact that a headline — somehow — reached the network’s live website that read, “Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far.”
Holy Week is the most sacred part of the liturgical calendar for Christians. This year, Holy Week has coincided with some tough coverage of the Vatican’s handling of sex abuse problems from decades ago.
It appears that ace Vatican reporter John Allen isn’t the only person who noted problems with the New York Times‘ recent attempt to link Pope Benedict XVI to a particularly sickening story of priest abuse.
“Nazi scandal engulfs Human Rights Watch.” Not a headline you would expect to ever see. But there it was in The Sunday Times of London. And all I could think was: Not again.
We’ve written at length about our frustration with the overuse of political terminology to describe religious groups. The labels “conservative” and “progressive” might mean something in politics, but they have their limits when it comes to discussion of faith.
Quick! While we all read more and more about the horrific news out of Moscow, can we agree on something? Please, copy editors and reporters, lend me your ears.
