Pope Francis

Last week, liberal news outlet Salon did their best to convince themselves that Pope Francis never even wanted to meet with Kentucky clerk and conscientious objector Kim Davis. And they did so quite colorfully, claiming that the pontifix was “Ratf***ed” into a meeting with the Rowen County, Kentucky elected official.

It was quite the scene on Wednesday night as the viewers of MSNBC’s All In and The Last Word saw extensive meltdowns by two different panels over the revelation that Pope Francis took time during his visit to the United States to secretly meet with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis with panelists decrying how “deeply disappointed” they were at the “bizarre” meeting.

Esquire’s Charles Pierce is a graduate of a Jesuit university (Marquette). It’s among the many reasons he’s been a big fan of Pope Francis, the first-ever Jesuit pontiff, and it’s probably one factor in his vehement disappointment that Francis met with, and apparently encouraged, gay-marriage objector Kim Davis last week in Washington. Pierce referred to the pope’s behavior regarding the “…

What started as a rumor was confirmed by the Vatican mid-morning Wednesday: Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who went to jail for refusing to give same-sex marriage licenses, met with Pope Francis secretly last Thursday.

Brian Williams and Chris Matthews couldn't resist the opportunity to harp on the lack of married and women priests in the Catholic Church, as MSNBC provided live coverage of Pope Francis's open-air Mass in Philadelphia on Sunday. Williams pointed out that one of the archbishops at the Mass is "from a family, [but] he cannot go home to one. He cannot have one, and be...of service to the Catholic…

On Sunday's Fareed Zakaria GPS, host Zakaria opened the show complaining about American Christians having "heated debates over abortion, abstinence, contraception, and gays," as he argued that Christianity is primarily supposed to be about "be[ing] nice to the poor."

A heavily politicized preliminary version of Friday's front-page New York Times story on Pope Francis's visit to New York City was another example of the sudden respect a religious figure garners from the liberal newspaper -- at least when he happens to agree on the Times' pet issue of immigration. Reporters Marc Santora and Sharon Otterman noted that the Pope's "words cut against the current…

Appearing as a guest on Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, during a discussion of the Catholic Church's refusal to allow women to become priests, liberal commentator Ron Reagan obnoxiously charged that "all of those monotheisms," specifying "Judaism, Islam, Christianity," are "terrified of" and "hate women" and  "hate genitals." Moments later, he mocked these religions as encouraging…

MSNBC's Chris Matthews revealed his loathing for a part of his Catholic upbringing on Wednesday's Hardball, and ended up mangling the theology behind a beautiful and ancient Church ritual for new mothers. Matthews turned to Catholic dissident Sister Simone Campbell for her take on Pope Francis's visit. Sister Campbell touted her liberal "Nuns on the Bus" campaign as a supposed way to "take the…

NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham appeared Friday night on The Steve Malzberg Show on Newsmax TV to discuss the Pope and President Obama. First they discussed the U.S. News website trying to argue the pope “echoed” Obama in attacking Christianity in his speech to Congress. That wasn’t true, Graham said.

Appearing as a guest on Friday's CNN Newsroom, CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein asserted that "zealots are winning the soul of the Republican Party" as he blamed the "zealots of his party" for Republican House Speaker John Boehner's announced resignation from the House of Representatives. Moments later, as he praised the Pope's speech to Congress, Bernstein took a shot at Texas Senator Ted…

Al juzgar por la cobertura de la visita del papa Francisco a los Estados Unidos, parecería que nuestros medios de prensa fueron bendecidos de manera milagrosa con el don de interpretar los pensamientos que están detrás de las palabras del Papa. La prensa de habla hispana no ha estado exenta de este fenómeno.

For journalists, it was the best of popes and it was the worst of popes. News outlets were often negative when Pope Benedict visited the United States in 2008, calling him an “enforcer,” “God’s Rottweiler,” and “very conservative.” Not so this time around for Pope Francis. The current pontiff shares the media’s views on climate change, immigration and inequality, and seems ambivalent at best…

Judging from some of the coverage of the papal visit to the United States, it would appear that our media have been miraculously blessed with the gift of interpreting the thoughts behind Francis' words. The national Spanish-language media have also been prone to this phenomenon.