Forum Courtesy Toward the Pope As a Religious Figure?

[3DOCTORS]

I hope I’m posting this in the right place.

Here’s the spark that has me concerned. This whole business about what the Pope said about condoms and the ensuing media feeding frenzy. How remarks the Pope has made have been taken out of context and twisted this way and that to serve anti-Catholic and liberal agendas.

That part we can’t control. But here’s a part we can control. This is just a suggestion, OK?

I am aware of how the title of the original article is required to be used in “In the News” or “Catholic News” posts. But think about this. If the source of the article is biased against the Pope, the title is going to be an attention-grabbing headline that already contains the abovementioned distortions. In our fallen world, scandal sells. Bad news gets more attention than good news.

Therefore, it follows that one should use the utmost discretion, if one is a faithful Catholic who respects the Pope, to refrain from posting news stories from dubious sources. If these stories quote the Pope out of context, it would be well to search the Vatican website, L’Osservatore Romano, or wherever His Holiness’s words may be found in context, and provide that link along with the post from the questionable source.

Or even to ask oneself, is it necessary or edifying to call attention to the questionable news article in the first place? What purpose will it serve? Will it get people riled up and misinformed with its distorted reporting? Or can it be used to point out what the Pope really meant?

I realize the Pope is a public figure as well as a religious figure, and that the Holy Spirit strengthens him, that he’s strong, he can “take the heat” of his position in the world. But we the faithful are also called to defend him against gossip, or we are guilty of enabling the gossip ourselves, no?

My suggestion - read these stickies and reflect on them. IMO, they have relevance here. forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=1440568&highlight=Respect#post1440568
and
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=491174&highlight=respect+for+clergy+religious
And the Pope is also a religious figure, just like a priest, nun, monk, or bishop. In fact, he is the Bishop of Rome. Forum rules as I understand them prohibit improper judgments and disrespectful comments against religious. Shouldn’t the Pope be accorded the same respect? Can we present the news in a way that acknowledges that:

• Yes, there is this article out there, published by so-and-so, but
• Here is so-and-so’s agenda, and
• Here is a link to the original source so that you can get the full picture.

 

[Santi2]

I hope I’m posting this in the right place.

Here’s the spark that has me concerned. This whole business about what the Pope said about condoms and the ensuing media feeding frenzy. How remarks the Pope has made have been taken out of context and twisted this way and that to serve anti-Catholic and liberal agendas.

That part we can’t control. But here’s a part we can control. This is just a suggestion, OK?

I am aware of how the title of the original article is required to be used in “In the News” or “Catholic News” posts. But think about this. If the source of the article is biased against the Pope, the title is going to be an attention-grabbing headline that already contains the abovementioned distortions. In our fallen world, scandal sells. Bad news gets more attention than good news.

Therefore, it follows that one should use the utmost discretion, if one is a faithful Catholic who respects the Pope, to refrain from posting news stories from dubious sources. If these stories quote the Pope out of context, it would be well to search the Vatican website, L’Osservatore Romano, or wherever His Holiness’s words may be found in context, and provide that link along with the post from the questionable source.

Or even to ask oneself, is it necessary or edifying to call attention to the questionable news article in the first place? What purpose will it serve? Will it get people riled up and misinformed with its distorted reporting? Or can it be used to point out what the Pope really meant?

I realize the Pope is a public figure as well as a religious figure, and that the Holy Spirit strengthens him, that he’s strong, he can “take the heat” of his position in the world. But we the faithful are also called to defend him against gossip, or we are guilty of enabling the gossip ourselves, no?

My suggestion - read these stickies and reflect on them. IMO, they have relevance here. forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=1440568&highlight=Respect#post1440568
and
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=491174&highlight=respect+for+clergy+religious
And the Pope is also a religious figure, just like a priest, nun, monk, or bishop. In fact, he is the Bishop of Rome. Forum rules as I understand them prohibit improper judgments and disrespectful comments against religious. Shouldn’t the Pope be accorded the same respect? Can we present the news in a way that acknowledges that:

• Yes, there is this article out there, published by so-and-so, but
• Here is so-and-so’s agenda, and
• Here is a link to the original source so that you can get the full picture.

 

[3DOCTORS]

Thank you for your support. I don’t want to presume to act as if I’m a forum mod and tell people what to do; that’s not my place. But hopefully I managed to word it as a suggestion for people to consider.

I think in curiosity or indignation some of these distorted articles get posted on here and I think in some cases the harm it does to those who don’t know how to discern truth from “spin” far outweighs the good of “being informed.”

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing…” – Alexander Pope

 

[Vincent1984]

Therefore, it follows that one should use the utmost discretion, if one is a faithful Catholic who respects the Pope, to refrain from posting news stories from dubious sources. If these stories quote the Pope out of context, it would be well to search the Vatican website, L’Osservatore Romano, or wherever His Holiness’s words may be found in context, and provide that link along with the post from the questionable source.

I think L’Osservatore Romano bears much of the blame for the recent scandal, in that it broke the embargo deadline (which the secular media respected) on the Holy Father’s book to report a single ‘scandalous’ paragraph without sufficient context.

 

[3DOCTORS]

I think L’Osservatore Romano bears much of the blame for the recent scandal, in that it broke the embargo deadline (which the secular media respected) on the Holy Father’s book to report a single ‘scandalous’ paragraph without sufficient context.

Now that you mention it, I recall there was some controversy there. In which case, I recommend just sticking with the Holy See’s website.:yup:

 

[Timothy17]

Furthermore,

Recently a combination of Princton and Notre Dame professors produced a paper in defense of the traditional, conjugal view of marriage using only reason and nature as the foundation. The paper defends the conjugal (natural) view of marriage in such a way that anyone can now reasonably understand why marriage is not only natural but actually requires a phychological openess to children on one hand, and mutual exclusivity (fidelity) on the other.

The beginning of the paper is overly wordy and scientific, likely the product of a single professor using a lot of technical jargin that would be understood by the academic community ; however, the primary body of the work (about 2/3rds of it) is written and reasoned in a way most people can understand.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722155

I share this because it can help anyone understand the very logical, reasonable and natural reasons that the sexual act should be confined to marriage and why the partners ought to be open to children from a purely rational point of view (without depending on religious data/revelation).

Credit to another Catholic forum poster for bringing this to the forefront and sharing it with all of us.

Pax,
Tim