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Guest
“Catholicism for dummies”
The Atlantic’s Ross Douthat argues that only ignorance – and perhaps a touch of unsavvy p.r. work on the part of the Catholic Church – can explain why people made a to-do over Pope Benedict’s recent lifting of the excommunication of four conservative bishops, members of the Society of Saint Pius X. … Writes Douthat:
The average reporter or commentator isn’t going to understand the nuances of canon law, the history and background of the SSPX [the Society of Saint Pius X], the context of the excommunications, the status of these bishops post-excommunication, and so forth. What the average journalist does understand, though, is how to write this headline: “Pope Rehabilitates Holocaust-Denying Bishop.” And while the potential for bad publicity shouldn’t prevent the Vatican from showing mercy to excommunicants when appropriate, it should incentivize wrapping any such mercy in a forceful, detailed, “Catholicism and canon law for dummies” explanation of what such an action doesn’t mean: In this case, an endorsement of poisonous anti-semitism and conspiracy theorizing.
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The Atlantic’s Ross Douthat argues that only ignorance – and perhaps a touch of unsavvy p.r. work on the part of the Catholic Church – can explain why people made a to-do over Pope Benedict’s recent lifting of the excommunication of four conservative bishops, members of the Society of Saint Pius X. … Writes Douthat:
The average reporter or commentator isn’t going to understand the nuances of canon law, the history and background of the SSPX [the Society of Saint Pius X], the context of the excommunications, the status of these bishops post-excommunication, and so forth. What the average journalist does understand, though, is how to write this headline: “Pope Rehabilitates Holocaust-Denying Bishop.” And while the potential for bad publicity shouldn’t prevent the Vatican from showing mercy to excommunicants when appropriate, it should incentivize wrapping any such mercy in a forceful, detailed, “Catholicism and canon law for dummies” explanation of what such an action doesn’t mean: In this case, an endorsement of poisonous anti-semitism and conspiracy theorizing.
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