Media Reporting on Pope Francis Is Ideological (Well, duh)

Bias can be detected by what the media report and choose not to report. When it comes to Pope Francis, bias by omission is the most common ideological practice.

Earlier this month, the pope met with an alleged Chilean victim of priestly sexual abuse, Juan Carlos Cruz; he is a homosexual. According to Cruz, the pope said to him, “It doesn't matter [whether you are a homosexual]. God made you like this. God loves you like this.” The Vatican refuses to comment on whether this is an accurate account.

Last week, the pope met with the Italian Bishops' Conference. When the subject of gays in the seminary came up, the pope allegedly said, “If in doubt, better not to let them enter.” Thus, was he affirming what Pope Benedict XVI said in 2005: men who have “deeply rooted homosexual tendencies” should not be admitted to the seminary? The Vatican refuses to comment on whether this is an accurate account.

Why the disparity? Ideology. The big media are pro-gay and will report on any story attributed to the pope that fits with their ideology. They will not report on stories that do not. It's really that simple – and that dishonest.

First prize for ideological bias goes to the New York Times. It not only ran a story on the pope allegedly giving his blessings to the homosexual condition, it ran an approving editorial on it. It even selected his remark as the “Quote of the Day.” But it had no room to cover his alleged comment about keeping homosexuals from studying for the priesthood.

The newspaper's slogan is, “All the news that's fit to print.” It should amend it to say, “All the news that's fit to know.”

Bill Donohue is President and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. He was awarded his Ph.D. in sociology from New York University and is the author of seven books and many articles.

I’ve heard Bishop Barron say that homosexuality is a disorder, that we are all sinners and that the Church should concentrate on pastoral matters.

I don’t know if the Church can ever not say homosexuality is a disorder or not say that doesn’t meet God’s accepted standard. Some people are willing to amend God’s view of love and make it now more inclusive to include homosexuality. But it is still a very polarizing question with much heated debate — in great part, because nothing scientifically has been proven.

Some see homosexuality as God given and gay marriage as a celebration of love rather than sin. Others see homosexuality as a sinful urge (like coveting your neighbor’s wife) to be fought with and avoided. These people would say just because somebody loves someone doesn’t legitimatize having sex and marriage with them, anymore than loving your sibling would legitimatize sex and marriage.

Personally, I don’t think there is one cause for being homosexual and for me being gay and gay marriage is not the problem so much as what follows from it. The left has won a battle and will continue to push its agenda: the door is open for the redefinition of marriage and family, the normalization of any sexually deviant behavior as a chosen lifestyle or orientation based on equality and compassion for the deviant, especially as a member of a minority subject to societal persecution. This opens up a can of worms where any coupling can be considered a “marriage.” If you’ve given marriage rights to gays then you have to give it to any kind of coupling that wants it, and that could include any combination of pedophilia, polygamy, bestiality, etc. Everything is permitted in the liberated, taboo free future. For example, little Johnny can see his three dads chase each other around naked in the living room. It’s a Brave New Socialist World.

In all of this I think the child will suffer. All the vices laid out by the Church — adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, divorce, etc. — have tried to pull apart the family, who exists to protect the child. The child is the weakest member of society and must be protected.

Pope Francis is a modern leftist Pope. If he had his way he would make all kind of concessions to modernity. I think the Church can and should make concessions to modernity, e.g., priests being married and women taking on a greater role — perhaps even being priests. Like the Orthodox Church the Catholics weren’t always not married in the past. I think the Church should bow to the times in some things, but not the more important things — the things that will determine the future in a bad way.

Liberalism and secularism are the default mindset for a lot of people and many Catholics are very critical of the Church — look at Ireland recently accepting abortion. There is a battle to be fought with the left who has a very ugly and bleak picture of what is in store for mankind. And this involves children, who might be given sexual rights as part of their early introduction to sex and gender. This is the time for Pope Francis to think about the future... think about whether children will be protected. I hope God has given him the courage and the clarity to do so.

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