Pope Francis

New York Times Howler: Paper Mangles Story on Pope Francis and Dogs In Heaven
By Tim Graham | December 14, 2014 | 12:25 AM EST

On Thursday, The New York Times reported Pope Francis was endorsing the thesis of the cartoon All Dogs Go To Heaven. On Friday, they were pressed to run a correction, suggesting the media are eager to promote the notion that the Pope is frustrating conservatives and breaking with longstanding Catholic teaching.

In the original article, Times reporter Rick Gladstone began with an ooze: "Pope Francis has given hope to gays, unmarried couples and advocates of the Big Bang theory. Now, he has endeared himself to dog lovers, animal rights activists and vegans."

Daily Beast Laments: Pope Francis is 'Backpedaling on Gays'
By Matthew Balan | November 19, 2014 | 7:22 PM EST

The Daily Beast's Jay Michaelson warned his left-wing fellow-travelers in a Tuesday item that Pope Francis "does not intend to change fundamental Catholic doctrine" on human sexuality. His evidence: the Bishop of Rome spoke at a "bizarre" (in his words) conference where "a who's who of theological conservatives from a breadth of Western religious traditions" gathered to discuss traditional marriage.

CBS Boosts 'Sharp Response' to Pope From Mother of Euthanasia Advocate
By Matthew Balan | November 19, 2014 | 3:48 PM EST

Wednesday's CBS This Morning played up how "the Vatican is under fire from the mother of a woman who ended her own life." Jan Crawford's spotlighted Deborah Ziegler's "sharply-worded letter" to opponents of euthanasia, especially Pope Francis and the Catholic Church. Ziegler's daughter, Brittany Maynard, committed suicide on November 1, 2014, after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and became the face of the pro-euthanasia movement during her final days.

CBS, NBC Censor Pope's Blast at Abortion, Euthanasia; ABC Barely Covers
By Matthew Balan | November 17, 2014 | 2:45 PM EST

CBS and NBC's morning and evening newscasts on Saturday and Sunday ignored Pope Francis's condemnation of abortion and euthanasia during a Saturday meeting with Catholic doctors in Italy. Their omission is glaring when compared to their hype over a supposed "seismic shift towards gays and divorcees" in a proposed document from a bishops' meeting. Surprisingly, ABC's fluff-filled Good Morning America devoted nine seconds to the pontiff's speech, but only mentioned his targeting of euthanasia.

MSNBC Equates 'Hardline' Catholic Cardinal's Demotion With Sex Abuser's Penalty
By Matthew Balan | November 11, 2014 | 5:37 PM EST

Alex Wagner was noticeably gleeful on her MSNBC program on Monday about Pope Francis reassigning Cardinal Raymond Burke from a prominent role at the Vatican to patron of the Knights of Malta. Wagner hyped this move as "a strong message to arch-conservatives in the Catholic Church – reform or be removed." The left-wing host later underlined that the pontiff "demoted hardline U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke" and this was supposedly a "clear message to his [Francis's] conservative critics."

Daily Beast Rips Conservative Catholics For Sowing 'Schism' in Church
By Matthew Balan | November 3, 2014 | 7:57 PM EST

Left-wing academics Candida Moss and Joel Baden blasted conservative and traditionalist Catholics in a Sunday post on The Daily Beast website for their opposition to Pope Francis's change in tone on social issues. Moss and Baden made their loathing of orthodox believers clear by hyping how supposedly, "conservative Catholics have had their chastity belts in a twist over Francis and apparently, the chafing has finally grown too much to bear."

MSNBC's Misleading Hype: Pope 'Broke With Catholic Tradition' on Evolution
By Matthew Balan | October 28, 2014 | 5:37 PM EDT

MSNBC's Daniel Berger trumpeted on Tuesday that "Pope Francis broke with Catholic tradition Monday by declaring that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real." Berger later asserted that Pope Francis's "language was a significant departure from Benedict XVI and his close advisers, who had voiced support for the idea that intelligent design underpins evolution."

Media Spin Catholic Bishops' Vote as Spurning a 'Welcome to Gays'
By Matthew Balan | October 19, 2014 | 10:40 AM EDT

CBS, USA Today, and the Associated Press all sang from the same sheet of music on Saturday, as they covered the end of the Catholic bishops' Extraordinary Synod on the Family. On CBS Evening News, Jim Axelrod played up a supposed "deep split over the direction Pope Francis wants to take the Church," after the Church's leaders rejected controversial language about homosexuals and divorced Catholics in an earlier draft report. Axelrod also underlined that the bishops "considered language in [the] document...that would welcome gays."

National Review Religion Expert Calls Out New York Times ‘Slander’ of Catholic Church
By Tim Graham | October 15, 2014 | 6:51 AM EDT

On Tuesday morning, Catholic author George Weigel took to National Review Online to describe “The Great Catholic Cave-In That Wasn’t.” Weigel slammed a Monday article in The New York Times headlined “Vatican Signals More Tolerance Toward Gays and Remarriage” as the latest in a long series of biased articles awaiting the Catholic Church’s surrender to the liberal, modernist Times zeitgeist.

Weigel asked: Why would the Catholic Church please the papers and "emulate the pattern of the dying communities of liberal Protestantism?"

Networks Boost LGBT Lobby's 'Seismic Shift' Spin on Vatican Meeting
By Matthew Balan | October 14, 2014 | 5:33 PM EDT

On Tuesday, the Big Three networks' morning newscasts carried water for the left-wing Human Rights Campaign by adopting their "seismic shift" label about the midterm report from the Catholic bishops' Extraordinary Synod on the Family. On Good Morning America, ABC's Amy Robach trumpeted that "the Catholic Church appears to be making a seismic shift towards gays and divorcees." Norah O'Donnell also used the "seismic" term on CBS This Morning.

TIME Religion Reporter to Media: Stop the Hype on Church Synod Report
By Ken Shepherd | October 13, 2014 | 4:26 PM EDT

While many reporters are giddy as schoolgirls over a document released by the Vatican regarding how to appropriately welcome homosexuals in the life of the Catholic Church, Time magazine religion reporter Elizabeth Dias has a good word of rebuke for her colleagues. "Looking for revolution can be misleading. It can mar the actual story of what is and what is not happening," Dias concludes.

NPR Spins: 'Vehement Hardliners' Vs. Hopeful 'Progressives' at Vatican Meeting on Family Issues
By Matthew Balan | October 6, 2014 | 1:19 PM EDT

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli promoted the cause of dissenters inside the Catholic Church on Sunday's Weekend Edition, as she covered the beginning of special meeting of bishops at the Vatican. She featured seven soundbites from four such dissenters (and didn't identify three of them as such), and none from orthodox Catholics.

The correspondent also played up the "vehement response" from five cardinals to "the Pope's favorite theologian" over his proposal to loosen the Church's discipline regarding divorced Catholics.