James
Pope Francis at Easter Mass in Saint Peter’s Square (AP Photo)
In story after story after repackaged story, the media has been feverishly cranking out reports on the “Pope Francis Revolution”. We’ve been covering this on CCC for a long time. It’s so old, but the never ending stream of misleading stories about how, when or why Pope Francis is going to enact some radical change in the Church keeps the narrative stubbornly alive, and that’s all that matters to the media. This is by design, of course. Tucked away somewhere in the middle of these stories you’ll find the obligatory, almost whispered, “Pope Francis hasn’t changed any doctrine yet, but…” admission. So they know very well that no big changes in doctrine are, in reality, coming down the pike. But what they’re hoping is that, by endlessly pushing this “Pope and Change” narrative on Francis, the desired effect on the public will occur, i.e., most people will actually start to believe that change is indeed coming, and that Church doctrine is mutable.
The latest report from CBS News: “How Much Change Can Pope Francis Bring?” Ever since 2008, the media has been enamored with the “Change” narrative, especially when they see something they want changed. “Change” as a political and cultural movement has assumed an almost mystical status to Progressives drunk on the Hegelian/Darwinian/Marxist dialectic. This particular CBS report is riddled with the all-too-famililar half-truths and sloppy statements about Church teaching. For instance, “Homosexuals can’t take Communion”. False. People with same-sex attraction who are living chastely and are otherwise properly disposed may receive Communion. And, as if on cue, the CBS report digs up the Pope’s “Who am I to judge?” remark in reference to gays. Not included is the context in which that off-the-cuff statement was originally made.
Interestingly, the story actually reports on a phenomenon that the media itself is guilty of peddling.
Longtime writer on Church affairs Massimo Franco thinks the popular view of Francis as a potential reformer may be based on wishful thinking.
“The major paradox with this pope is that he’s wearing the clothes that other people want him to wear,” Franco said. “But I’m not sure that they are the clothes he wants to wear.”
The problem is, it’s not enough to say it’s a “paradox with the pope”. It’s a paradox that the media has intentionally crafted about the Pope! The goal is to flood, to overwhelm, public opinion with a nonstop feed of these kinds of stories and eventually have the false narratives about Pope Francis overtake reality. And it’s more than just “wishful thinking” on the part of some shadowy, undefined “other people”. It’s an intentional drive by a very specific cabal to fashion a false narrative and create false expectations, in the hope of confusing and misleading Catholics, in other words, to divide the Church.
This isn’t conspiratorial, it’s simply true. How do I know this? Simple. Read any of Pope Francis’ statements, writings, speeches, etc. in their entirety (and not a media-approved report on them) and you’ll be astonished how that Pope Francis differs from the Pope Francis narrative the media is relentlessly cranking out.