You'd Think They'd Catch On
Since it was only one week ago that the headlines “Pope Considering Allowing Married Priests!” had to go away after “reflecting on the celibacy of priests” failed to translate into “Pope pauses to think long enough that he realizes how wrong he’s been” and already we’ve got “Pope may relax rules on condoms!, this made me laugh (the first I’d heard of it, for background:
Wheat & Weeds – Distinctions Lost
Remember in yesterday’s Potpourri I mentioned the Pope publishing a book that he did not intend to be a magisterial statement, but a private reflection? The wise old men at the Telegraph don’t understand the difference:
The Pope has shocked theologians and opened a chink in the theory of papal infallibility by saying that people should feel free to disagree with what he has written in his latest book.
Would they prefer we think them malicious or stupid? Open Book has more.
And so do I. In other UK media understand nothing about Catholicism news, the Guardian thinks the Church is about to say contraception is A-OK just because it’s studying whether a married couple must abstain totally from marital relations in a case where one spouse has AIDS.
Yes, Dears. I’m sure he doesn’t really mean that truth and reason stuff either.
Hehe.
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Weird, I’ve been trying to get folks in camera all the live long day.
November 24th, 2006 at 2:49 am
The UK press thinks in terms of politics, with liberals and conservatives and such. OK as far as it goes, but it goes no distance at all. As far as the Church is concerned there has been one major historical event – the Resurrection – and there’ll be one more – the Last Judgment. Everything else is just vamp till ready. Which makes it difficult for your average journalists to get their heads round.
November 24th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Well the American press is just as bad, except it’s worse because the British press actually notices. The American press can only be roused to report upon religious news either when the pope dies and a full one fifth of the world’s population is turning on their televisions (“Put on your lipgloss, Jane, we’re goin’ to Rome!”) or if priests are molesting altar boys (“Ooh look a man of god and a figure of trust abusing that position! How ironic! This’ll show those religious folk how silly their belief system is!”)
November 24th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Now, now. In fairness you should acknowledge WaPo’s annual voyage to Appalachia to report the doings of snake-handling Pentecostals. Converts from Christianity to crystal use and feng shui get coverage. Buddhists and satanists make the Saturday religion page with about equal frequency. Also former priests and nuns who are now scholars with contrarian positions –wishing to ban Creches from the public square, discovering that Jesus never existed, or discovering that an orgasm is a fine thing, unlike what that mean old Pope always says. And anguished Western Muslims suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous bigotry are huge.
November 24th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Ah yes, the snake handlers. But hey, why not. I mean, everyone loves a good laugh. And what in what better place than the Religion section?!
November 26th, 2006 at 6:56 am
It’s like bookshops that file the da Vinci Code and such like under the heading “non-fiction”.