I am afraid that it might be even worse than that. They appear to be slandering the Pope to defend their "boy" Archbishop Weakland. Please see the attached puff-piece the NY Times did last year on the pervert archbishop's heretical autobiography:
The NY Times effort to libel the Pope is nothing short of a crude attempt to rewrite history to deflect the blame for some of the tragic consequences of their leftist ideology.I think you’re right: they’re protecting their perv favorite, Weakland. As usual, siding against the one person who acts like a moral authority (Benedict) and in favor of the Wormtongues like Weakland who spend their entire corrupt clerical careers undermining that authority.