Networks Mark First Year of Francis Papacy By Urging Church to Abandon Principles
NBC, ABC, and CBS marked the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis being
elected leader of the Catholic Church with positive stories about the
Pontiff's personal style while impatiently pleading for him to reject
the moral values he swore to uphold. [Listen to the audio]
On Thursday's NBC Today, correspondent Anne Thompson summed up a discussion she had with a group of students at Loyola University by proclaiming:
"Now, these young Catholics don't expect change on the divisive issues
of contraception, gay marriage, or abortion. But they are thrilled that
that's not all the Pope talks about." She added that they were happy avoiding such social issues and "getting back to the original message of Jesus Christ."
Sunday on ABC's This Week, correspondent David Wright
lamented that the Pope "kept the hard line on contraception and
abortion" and how "the Church still vehemently opposes gay marriage,"
but touted how Francis "famously said, 'Who Am I to Judge?'" when asked
about gay priests and supposedly "signaled an openness to the idea of
civil unions" in a recent interview.
In a report for Thursday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Mark Phillips slammed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as "reclusive and tired" before praising Francis for having "seemed to reject the Vatican line that homosexuality was an intrinsic disorder."
Phillips cited left-wing Vatican reporter Marco Politi announcing:
"This means a new look on divorce, on second marriage, a new look on
homosexuality, on homosexual unions, on contraceptives." Phillips
interjected: "But a new look that hasn't yet been reflected in any
change, other than atmospheric, in Church doctrine. Are people kind of
dressing this pope in the clothes they want him to wear?" Politi
replied: "In the Catholic Church the atmosphere is very important."
At the top of a review of Politi's 2011 book titled Joseph Ratzinger: Crisis of a Papacy, National Catholic Reporter described
his politics: "Marco Politi, to be sure, has a point of view. A veteran
Italian journalist and commentator, mostly for the leftist La
Repubblica, Politi's sympathies clearly run to the Catholic Church's
progressive wing."
Thursday's CBS This Morning
ran a similar report from Phillips, followed by co-hosts Charlie Rose
and Gayle King interviewing New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops.
Rose pressed them: "If this pope wanted to change doctrine, how would he do it?"
Kurtz explained: "...his responsibility is to preserve and hand on
timeless teachings of the Church." Despite that answer, King followed
up: "But can the Church doctrine be changed? That's a question many people are wondering." Dolan noted: "No, doctrine itself can't be, Gayle." Kurtz added: "By definition."
On March 5, NBC marked Ash Wednesday with Nightly News
anchor Brian Williams declaring that remarks from Pope Francis in an
Italian newspaper "are drawing criticism and may diminish his luster a
bit, especially among American Catholics..." In the report that
followed, Thompson asserted: "It's his unapologetic defense of how the
Church is dealing with the priest sex-abuse crisis that's igniting
controversy."
Later in the story, Thompson lamented: "What the Pope makes clear in
this interview is while he will listen, the basic teachings of the
Catholic Church are not up for review."
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
