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Media trying to Frame Vatican with negative press
Written by Malek
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By Deal W. Hudson & Deacon Keith Fournier

 

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - It's sad but predictable that most of the mainstream TV networks have chosen "to frame" the Conclave irresponsibly.  Their respective frames reflect the media's predictable, and reprehensible, attempt to discredit the Catholic Church while simultaneously boosting their notion of what qualities the new pope should embody. 

Hmmmmm, let's guess, would those qualities be tolerance, flexibility, pluralism, progressivism, and the "third world?" The problem with talking about mainstream media coverage nowadays is its utter predictability, akin to "shooting ducks in a barrel."  But it's a barrel of their own making and our responsibility as Catholic journalists to inoculate the public against their version of framing the Conclave.

Our good friend, former Vatican ambassador and Boston mayor, Ray Flynn, published some comments yesterday that summarize the media coverage with the authority of a man who spent many years as a Catholic in the Vatican. Ambassador Flynn, a master storyteller of Boston Irish persuasion, has also published an excellent novel about a papal Conclave, The Accidental Pope.


Ray Flynn writes:

"News coverage about the upcoming Conclave has been completely off the mark and doing a disservice to the public. Catholic viewers deserve more than controversy and scandal about the upcoming Conclave.  No insight or creative commentary. The same old questions being asked to critics with the same old answers given. The media spends more time trying to create controversy by interviewing  people who ideologically disagree with Church values."

 

Bear in mind that Ambassador Flynn is a lifelong Democrat who served as Vatican ambassador under President Clinton, who, by the way, Flynn took to task over Clinton's veto of the partial-birth abortion bill. Flynn is the truest embodiment we know of what is called a "Pro-life Democrat."  Flynn pinpoints the disservice being done to the public by media who interview faux experts "who are not only uninformed about the Conclave, but hostile to Christian values and traditions....consequently, concerned viewers get only sensational half true stories."

We can only hope that Ambassador Flynn is tapped by CNN or MSNBC to comment on the Conclave, rather than the typical far-left or dissenting Catholics who usually pop up over their logo. As Flynn explains:

"The conclave is not a political election, a soccer match, or a popularity contest.  The media should spend its time trying to figure out the issues of concern. What's really important to the future of the more than 1.3 billion Catholics throughout the world? The College of Cardinals is already discussing the problems and challenges facing the Church in a dramatically changing culture."

Like it or not, the media's coverage of the Conclave will be impacted by the Age of Obama: A moment when the left wing media enjoy privileged access to the White House, whose personnel go back and forth to these TV studios as if they were adjunct offices of the West Wing itself.

The one exception to all this is, of course, Fox News and the commentary of our friend Rev. Jonathan Morris who is already in the Vatican providing accurate and informed reports in the days leading up to the Conclave.  Rev. Morris, who spent most of his years as a priest in Rome, will undoubtedly be the most trusted source of information until the white smoke is seen over the Sistine Chapel.

Fox News is not always on the mark, but Father Jonathan Morris makes Fox News the only reliable source of TV commentary on how to frame the Conclave. If any of the other networks have the good sense to hire Ambassador Ray Flynn then we will be happy to add that network to the list of reliable sources. 

Our advice to all of you is to employ Cartesian doubt to 90 percent of what you hear about the Conclave, except from sources such as Father Morris and Ambassador Flynn.  You will find that most of what you are hearing is like the ball of wax that the philosopher Descartes in his Meditations held up to the fire and watched it evaporate, change shape, and turn into liquid, until nothing remained.

 

 

 

 

 

Humble and Holy: Benedict XVI Offers His Final Words From the Chair of Peter

 

 

ATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - We offer below the complete text of the final words offered by His Holiness, Benedict XVI, to the massive crowd who gathered in St. Peter's square for this extraordinary and historic even on February 27, 2013, the day before he voluntarily lays aside his office as Successor of Peter, Servant of the Servants of God.

How privileged we are to have lived during the service of this wonderful treasure of a Pope. How privileged many of us were to have also lived during the apostolic ministry of his friend and predecessor of such fond memory, Blessed John Paul II.These are historic moments with eternal consequence, for those with the eyes of living faith.  

We ask all of our readers around the globe to pray for His Holiness, Benedict XVI, as he moves forward to a life of monastic prayer on behalf of the Church which he loves.I have offered some reflections on this next chapter of his continued service here.

Please, pray for the Cardinal electors who will soon gather to choose his successor. That they  would listenclosely  to the Holy Spirit who always guides the Church of Jesus Christ. That they would have the courage this pregant moment in Church history requires. Pray for the Holy Church of Jesus Christ as she continues her mission in the Third Millennium of Christian history. Be not Afraid!

*****

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!
Distinguished Authorities!
Dear brothers and sisters!

Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate. [I am so moved by your presence - when I see you, I see the living church.]

Like the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people. At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church throughout the world, and I thank God for the "news" that in these years of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of the Church - charity that makes the Church to live in love - and of the hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs us towards the heavenly homeland.

I feel I [ought to] carry everyone in prayer, in a present that is God's, where I recall every meeting, every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good work (cf. Col 1:9-10).

At this time, I have within myself a great trust [in God], because I know - all of us know - that the Gospel's word of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This is my faith, this is my joy.

When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th, [2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart were: "Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me" - and the Lord really has guided me. He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years] have been a stretch of the Church's pilgrim way, which has seen moments joy and light, but also difficult moments.

I have felt like St. Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of ​​Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep.

Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He, who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing, for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church

without His consolation, His light, His love.

We are in the Year of Faith, which I desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love.

I want everyone to feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited daily in the morning says, "I adore you, my God, I love you with all my heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a Christian." Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us, but He also expects that we love Him!

At this time, however, it is not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St. Peter's barque, even if it is his first responsibility - and I have not ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been close to me.

First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators, starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See: the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility.

They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought [goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried each of you in my prayers, with the father's heart.

I wish my greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for good communication, whom I thank for their important service.

At this point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone: now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very close to him. It's true that I receive letters from the world's greatest figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives of the world of culture and so on.

I also receive many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very affectionate family ties.

Here, one can touch what the Church is - not an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in this way and almost be able to touch with one's hands the power of His truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of its decline.

In recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me with His light to make me take the right decision - not for my sake, but for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult, trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and not one's own.

Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always - he, who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to speak, totally deprived of the private sphere.

I have felt, and I feel even in this very moment, that one receives one's life precisely when he offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are truly his own.

The "always" is also a "forever" - there is no returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter's bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which, active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.

I thank each and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany him with the light and the power of His Spirit.

Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we entrust ourselves, with deep trust.

Dear friends! God guides His Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near, that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds us with His love. Thank you!