Liberals in the media are doing what they do best when it comes to Pope Francis today: misrepresenting him to their hearts’ content.
When asked in a press conference about celibate priests who suffer same-sex attraction, the Pope replied: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?” – a view which is exactly in line with Church teaching [1]. But of course, the media had a field day painting this orthodox statement as a sweeping approval of the gay lifestyle.
Huffington Post – as usual – was probably the worst, its front page headline [2] emblazoned with the ludicrous statement: “POPE OK WITH GAYS.” USA Today originally claimed [3] that Pope Francis “reached out an olive branch to the gay community,” though later the news site updated its article to call the Pope’s words “the opening for a more conciliatory attitude toward gay members of the church.”
Slate’s Josh Voorhees called [4] the comment a “bombshell.” CNN interpreted [5] the Pope’s words as a sign of radical change, claiming the new pope is “committed to changing the church’s approach to historically marginalized groups.” And the New York Times hyped it [6] as “breathtakingly conciliatory.”
HuffPo “Gay Voices” editor Noah Michelson repeatedly called [7] the comment “huge,” saying it was “pretty cool” and “hopeful” that the Pope would “make this statement on such a huge level.” The Daily Mail joined the ranks [8]by claiming that Francis “signaled a dramatic turnaround in the Catholic church’s approach.”
ABC, which never met a pro-gay story it wouldn’t hype [9], jumped on the bandwagon [10], billing the Pope’s comment “surprising” and claiming that they “shift Church’s tone on gay people.” On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Josh Elliot commented called Francis statement “stunning,” George Stephanopoulos declared it “massive” and “a significant statement showing conciliation to … gays and lesbians all around the world.”
CBS joined in, too, when Gayle King claimed [11] on “This Morning” that Pope Francis was “offering a hand of friendship to gay priests.”
Reuters was a bit more accurate [12], correctly stating that, while Pope Francis explained that gays “should not be judged or marginalized,” he also “reaffirmed Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin.”
When they’re not bashing the Church, the media’s favorite pastime is to misrepresent the Pope’s words, as evidenced last May when media wrongly reported that Pope Francis gave atheists a free pass into heaven. [13] Even more recently, media painted the indulgence connected with WYD [14] as a “get out of hell free card” for retweeting the Pope. Adding today’s news to the list, the liberal media is really batting a thousand when it comes to reporting on Church topics, and this latest overreaction is just another strike.