Countdown to the Conclave, Day 5: Media Confusion

By Deal W. Hudson & Deacon Keith Fournier
3/4/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

How Catholics can avoid a 'spirit of the conclave'

As we said at the outset of this series, the old hands in the media and at Catholic media such as America and Commonweal still recall the brilliant, and subversive, series of Vatican II reports published in the New Yorker under the pseudonym of Xavier Rynne, who was actually a Redemptorist priest, Rev. Francis X. Murphy, who attended the Council as a journalist.

His Holiness Benedict XVI

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WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - If you have read the documents of 2nd Vatican Council, you will have noticed there is nothing in any of them that even closely resembles the "Spirit of Vatican II" so often evoked by dissenters. All those documents have one goal in mind: To make the Catholic worship and teaching more communicative to the people of God, or, as it is usually put, more pastoral.

As we said at the outset of this series, the old hands in the media and at Catholic outlets such as America and Commonweal still recall the brilliant, and subversive, series of Vatican II reports published in the New Yorker under the pseudonym of Xavier Rynne, who was actually a Redemptorist priest, Rev. Francis X. Murphy, who attended the Council as a journalist.

The success of spinning the meaning of Vatican II was not merely the achievement of Father Murphy but also due to the readiness in the late 60s to paradigm change in major cultural institutions. American's colleges and universities would never be the same again, but the Church, in spite of its decades of tumult, has remained the Church. The Holy Spirit, after all, has a larger audience than any and all media outlets, and led the last three conclaves to choose pontiffs who understood that the media was a reality they could not afford to ignore.

On Monday, 115 cardinals will meet in the Vatican to set the date for the beginning of the next Conclave. With Easter fast approaching, there's no doubt they want a new pontiff in place with enough time to prepare for the Palm Sunday celebration. But bearing in mind the Conclave will probably last no more than three days, at most five days, there is no need for the Cardinals to rush forward.

The 11 Cardinals from the United States, all of whom are media-savvy, constitute the second largest voting block, 10%, next to the 28 Italians, 25%. All the cardinals are essentially "locked-down" during the Conclave, with cell-phones and wireless laptops being confiscated, and hopefully all the cardinals, even those Italians with close relationships with local press, will resist the temptation to leak.

The best coverage of the Conclave for us will be found on Fox News, relying on Father Jonathan Morris, and on EWTN, who is sending their news director, Raymond Arroyo, to cover the event. It should also be mentioned that former Fox News reporter and TIME magazine correspondent, Greg Burke, a very reliable and informed source, is now a senior communications advisor to the Vatican Secretary of State. Burke is close to both Father Morris and Arroyo. The other networks would be smart to pick up commentators like George Weigel or Raymond Flynn rather than relying on their cadre of "progressives" who are hoping the legacy of John Paul II and Benedict XVI will come to a screeching halt.

The most respected and best informed of all Vatican reporters is Sandro Magister -- his latest articles can be read in English at this web site. Magister's reporting is always balanced and accurate -- he knows who be avoid be sucked into the kind of intrigue and speculation that surrounds such events.

The best source for an anti-Catholic view of Conclave remains the Huffington Post. Each day the HuffPo seems to outdo itself with anti-Benedict ugliness: the latest offering was entitled, "Cardinals Meet In Vatican Overshadowed By Scandal, Discord And Intrigue," whose author portrays the Conclave as mired in a long laundry list of stumbles and miscues,

"Roman Catholic cardinals gathering to choose a successor to 'Pope Emeritus Benedict' will be worrying about a Vatican hierarchy hit by scandals, intrigue and betrayals befitting a Renaissance court. As well as sexual abuse by priests around the world, the scandals closer to home involve the leak of Benedict's personal papers, media reports of sexual misconduct in the Vatican, wiretapping, bureaucratic bungling and mishaps that many say could have been avoided."

One final thought to keep in mind: When the new pontiff is chosen, it will be up to him to choose his "team" to fill the top posts in the Curia, especially the Secretary of State and head of the Vatican press office, the person usually referred to as the "pope's spokesman" or the "Vatican spokesman." Our sources tell us that there is already jostling underway for these positions -- of course there is! -- and that we should keep a close eye on who comes out on top.

These selections will have substantial impact on the face of the future papacy to the world: Think of the invaluable contribution made by Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the spokesman for John Paul II, to his legacy.

There is much for Catholics to be praying about in the coming days, and it should include not only the new pontiff, but also his choices to lead the Church both in the Vatican and through his selection of nuncios and bishops around the world.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: vatican II, spirit of vatican II, conclave, media coverage, Xavier rynne, Rev. Francis X. Murphy, Deal W Hudson, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

DLL
2 months ago
The moderate position is the Catholic one or should be. Right or Left is mostly agenda driven and slanted. It is like a see saw,but the end on each side is to heavily weighted,so one side holds the ground while keeping the other side up in the air,hopefully out weighted. The moderate position is to keep both sides evenly weighted,so both can see and saw,so the perspectives are held to be in respect or in a kind of a balance,that keeps communication open and honest. Fox News and Huffington Post? No balance there! Nmoderate position! Watch all the news but none really report facts they are too competitive for that,so they are all sensationalized and agenda driven. All of them! Catholic on Line,EWTN,CNA are moderate and try to be fair. If so called facts present themselves as statistics,then buyer beware the news is not consumer reports. I mean that the popular view may be the heavily sold and statistically approved of one but that doesn't mean it is the right one. Because of this democracy can become flawed and ineffective. I am saying that there is something that can not be left out of a Democratic approach to any debate,it is written on our money. In God we Trust. Faith completes every reasonable approach to any solution that results in justice and peace in all communication. The media is confused about the church because it is confused about matters of faith and that is the real reason that between right or left points of view there is no balanced approach in the two communicating with each other. They will not see saw together on any playgrounds see saw. In faith there is balance.
larry villa
2 months ago
This article is totally bias against those voices that not only stand for the truth, but shine light on the truth. The article says that Fox News is more Pro-Catholic than Progressives and the Huffington Post News Media and other Liberal Media outlets. This is not true, Fox News just is an opportunist media outlet that uses the church views on abortion as a way to further their views and goals to eliminate birth control, women's rights and abortion. The other media outlets just report the truth, with facts and figures, it is their job to report the truth, not cover it up. Fox News is just an entertainment media outlet and it's just another arm of the "Right-Wing Extremists" who want to keep minorities, women, gays, and the poor down, eliminate or weaken their rights and to further their agenda of endless greed and corruption at all costs! Fox News is just another arm of the devil and his demons against all that is good, they want to keep the poor and others down. I am a Catholic, and the church is indeed filled with "Anti-God" forces who keep "secrets" and up to one third of those in the church are the Devil's adversaries and will do anything and everything to keep "God's teachings and words" in the dark. The coverup of the Priests that molest alter boys and others and keep other secrets is truly an outrage.It's time that these forces be fought and brought down. Ever since the secrets of the wishes of the Virgin Mary were revealed to three little shepherd children in Portugal almost a hundred years ago, the secrets and the truth have been hidden, it time for those secrets and truths to be revealed.The Virgin Mary of Fatima asked only one thing that the Vatican, the Pope and her Bishops to do to bring world peace, she asked that the " Consecrate Russia, BY NAME, to the Sacred Heart of the Virgin Mary" and thus bring peace to not only Russia and those "Godless Nations" around the world but also peace to the whole world.Even though the Church says this has been done, it has not, and poor Lucia knew this but was told it had been done, it never was. Evil has done anything and everything to keep that simple wish from becoming reality, I hope and pray that the Bishops of the Catholic Church not only cleanse the church of all those who desecrate it, who spit at it, and those who wrong against it, to keep that wish from the Virgin Mary from coming true. I hope and pray that they pick a Pope who will immediately "Consecrate Russia BY NAME to the Sacred Heart of the Virgin Mary of Fatima" and bring the church and teachings of good, kindness and forgiveness into the 21st Century.
Tom McGuire
2 months ago
Talk about communications. Fox news the best source?

The real source of good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was a visitor in a Catholic Church Sunday. Like most of the Catholic Churches I visit I could not hear the lectors or the priest. Neither could the younger people who have excellent hearing, hear the lectors or the priest. It seems that the Catholic Church does not consider the Gospel of Jesus Christ important; at least, it is not important to proclaim it in the Liturgy in a way that people can hear. So I guess the best we can expect is more focus on the politics of ideology of Church leaders to guide Catholics, not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Godwin C
2 months ago
I so much like your comments @KC Thomas. Jesus himself said it, that He did not come for saints but sinners. Our leaders are human and can be weak, whoever is expecting a saint to be our leader should go back to the Bible and read about the great men of God. They all had shortcomings before God called them for His service.

All i know is that no matter how bad Catholic Church is being portrayed, the gates of hell shall not prevail the Church of God.
acp
2 months ago
Interesting and informative !

The best thing I can do is pray and trust in God. There is no greater king than Christ the King. He is the Center and Focus and we won't be lost.
K C Thomas
2 months ago
I understand from the article that journalists like former priest Francis X Murphy supply news in a biased way to anti- catholic media and they publish it with delight. These so called intellectuals in journalism do not seem to study the position of the Church in any way other than purely political . When they attack us with sex scandals, we have to loudly say that Catholic Church is a hospital for sinners and not a Zoo for saints. The Church teaches good morals and if a few go against them and commit offences, there is nothing strange. The people outside the Church too are weak and many offences are committed. The only thing we can ensure is that guilty should be punished and eternal teaching of morals should be continued. The Catholic Church is not the creation of a political leader. We believe that it was founded by Jesus the Son of God and it is run by normal people who have inherited weakness from our forefathers.We believe the Holy Spirit is always with the Church and there is nothing to fear .
mgm.
2 months ago
Talk about confusion ,a reporter that work at the Vatican for years told a NPR interviewer that when he would talk to department heads at the Vatican for information on something involving the Church the department heads would asked him questions on what was going on in other departments at the Vatican he had question !The Pope does not hold anything like a cabinet meeting to get the Vatican departments up to date on Church issues or inline behind him.
abey
2 months ago
Well said, to also know that the Huffington Post is the voice of Freemasonry, in turn the friend of Apostates.

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