Thomas Roberts set aside four full segments on his MSNBC Live program on Monday and Tuesday to a panel of six Catholics who dissent from the Church's teachings on sexuality and abortion. Roberts hyped his guests as "Catholics like me who have been deeply wounded in life by the Church." He noted how a divorced woman stayed with the Church and asked, "Do you feel as if you're almost on a cyclical relationship with someone that is almost abusive to you, but that you still go back seeking acceptance?"
Pope Francis
By Scott Whitlock | September 22, 2015 | 12:44 PM EDT
The hosts of The View on Tuesday ranted about Catholicism, the Pope and his visit to America. Whoopi Goldberg, offering her thoughts on the faith, complained about Pope Francis ciscussing abortion: “Well, there's nothing in the Book that says anything about abortion. Let's make sure of that. The Ten Commandments are the Ten Commandments. There's only ten.”
By Clay Waters | September 22, 2015 | 9:25 AM EDT
The New York Times' Jennifer Steinhauer celebrated the faith of the fiercely pro-abortion former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California under a laugher of a headline, "At Divisive Moment, Pelosi’s Faith Coexists With Belief in Abortion Rights." The online headline is even "stronger" in silliness: "In Pelosi, Strong Catholic Faith and Abortion Rights Coexist." Steinhauer strove mightily to portray left-wing, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage Pelosi as an unconflicted Catholic.
By Jorge Bonilla | September 21, 2015 | 4:44 PM EDT
When analyzing news content on the nation’s Hispanic news media, it is helpful to remember that what is not covered is as important as what is covered, if not more so. This week’s papal visit to the United States provides us with another such instance.
By Kyle Drennen | September 21, 2015 | 1:22 PM EDT
On Sunday’s NBC Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd hyped Pope Francis taking on liberal agenda items: “The incredibly popular pope has been outspoken on his views about inequality and climate change....[in the] Shriver Report snapshot poll of American Catholics, a full 86% think it's a good thing that this pope has emphasized income inequality and environmental issues over things like abortion and same-sex marriage. It’s remarkable.”
By Julia A. Seymour | September 21, 2015 | 10:17 AM EDT
Pope Francis is kicking off his American tour and attracting attention not just from Catholics, but the liberal news media that love everything the pope does that they agree with.
If history repeats itself journalists will praise the pope for every liberal thing he says during the visit, especially about the economy, capitalism and wealth. The networks have called him “a different kind of pope” and one “breaking the mold” that view has been evident in their news coverage of Pope Francis since he was named pope March 13, 2013.
More Sudden Respect for Liberal Religion in NYT: 'Many Conservatives Project Their Fears Onto [Pope Francis]'
By Clay Waters | September 19, 2015 | 9:48 PM EDT More strange new respect for religion on the front page of the New York Times – at least when it comes to the economically liberal Pope Francis. Jim Yardley is the latest: "A Humble Pope, Challenging the World – First Latin American Pontiff Attracts Fans and Stirs Anxiety in Push for Change." Yardley tried to mainstream the left-wing Pope: "But he is hardly a left-winger, either -- at least in the political context of the United States," while portraying conservatives as fearful: "Many conservatives project their fears onto him."
Lefty Blogger: Conservative ‘Top Ranks’ Now Contain ‘All the Elements For the Ascension of True Fascism’
By Tom Johnson | September 19, 2015 | 2:38 PM EDT Applying bogus definitions of “fascist” and “fascism” to conservatives and conservatism has long been almost a cottage industry on the left. In a Friday post that mostly riffed on Rep. Paul Gosar’s intention to skip Pope Francis’s speech to a joint session of Congress, Daily Kos writer Hunter argued that the modern conservative movement may not be fascist right now, but easily could become so.
“All the elements for the ascension of true fascism are now in place among the top ranks of the American right,” wrote Hunter. “The adaptation of pseudo-‘Christian’ rhetoric to promote movement goals (expansionist interventionism, hyper-nationalism, xenophobia, a focus on ‘true’ members of the nation versus the undesirable intellectual, political, religious and ethnic ‘others’) while actual Christian thought is marginalized as ‘leftist’ and even dangerous ought to be good for a sub-essay of its own.”
By Matthew Balan | September 11, 2015 | 4:17 PM EDT
The long and short of Jill Filipovic's Friday op-ed in the New York Times was her outrage that the Catholic Church – and specifically, Pope Francis – still considered abortion to be a grave sin. The former Cosmopolitan political writer asserted that Pope Francis "offering forgiveness" to women who've had abortion is "a softer version of the same judgment: that the millions of women around the world who have abortions every year are sinners. Inviting women to feel shame and guilt for their abortions isn't a mercy; it's cruelty."
By Ken Shepherd | September 8, 2015 | 9:22 PM EDT
A few weeks ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the United States, liberal cradle Catholic Chris Matthews -- who once opined that it was somewhat en vogue for "really anti-gay" folks to convert to the faith -- used the upcoming visit as an opportunity to praise the pontiff as a foil for more conservative and traditionalist wings of the Catholic Church, particularly in the United States.
By Melissa Mullins | September 8, 2015 | 3:49 PM EDT
Time magazine selectively edited Pope Francis’ significant words on the issue of abortion recently.
Last week ABC News organized a “virtual town hall” for Americans across the country to ask Pope Francis questions about faith, life and their struggles. This forum was meant to give a little preview on what to expect when Pope Francis arrives in the United States in about two weeks.
By Matthew Balan | September 8, 2015 | 12:03 PM EDT
Anthony Faiola hyped how Pope Francis is "grappling with a conservative backlash to the liberal momentum building inside the [Catholic] [C]hurch" in a front-page, above-the-fold item in Monday's Washington Post. Faiola played up the "growing sense of alarm among strict conservatives, exposing what is fast emerging as a culture war over Francis's papacy," and underlined that the "conservative rebellion" against the pontiff is "taking on many guises."