Why didn't the media go bonkers when Pope Benedict talked about love or mercy?

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The media found it easier to portray him as a backwards old nazi, and Francis as a Liberal with no doctrine, than to really state the truth about these Holy Fathers. The Media, particularly in America, has an aggressive agenda.
 
Some of it might have to do with speaking and writing style. Pope Benedict is a scholar and I think sometimes it boils down to word choice, phrasing, and when speaking, inflection and tone. Pope Francis states the same things, but the manner in which he expresses them does come across as less scholarly at times, and more like a chat with your local parish priest.
 
:)Papa Francis appears to be trying to become an evangelist for the whole world, which is awesome! Is there any downside to preaching the Gospels, especially those concerned with mercy and love? I have a friend who left the church 26 years ago. Today she told me that she is planning on attending mass this weekend because she wants to be part of the Holy Father’s active Church that is welcoming to all sinners.
 
A lot of it has to do with expectations, perceptions and (as M-Dent said) assumptions.

When Benedict was elected, he had a reputation as being a hard-line doctrinal conservative. The media largely expected him to be a distant, unbending, ivory tower theologian. And so anything he said that fit that narrative got a headline. Anything that did not got glossed over.

With Francis, there was excitement at him being an unknown. No one knew much about him. But right out of the gate, he was a pope of firsts: first pope from the new world, first Jesuit pope, first pope to take the name Francis. Then there was his simple humility (like paying for his hotel bill) that really set the media on a path to basically portray Francis as the anti-Benedict. And similarly, anything he says that fits that narrative gets a headline. Anything that does not gets glossed over.
 
kozlosap said:
:)Papa Francis appears to be trying to become an evangelist for the whole world, which is awesome! Is there any downside to preaching the Gospels, especially those concerned with mercy and love? I have a friend who left the church 26 years ago. Today she told me that she is planning on attending mass this weekend because she wants to be part of the Holy Father’s active Church that is welcoming to all sinners.
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Same here, kozlosap! An old friend of mine, a lapsed Catholic, is VERY happy
about the Pope’s latest message and says she is hopeful about the Church for
the first time in decades.
Also heard from an atheist friend of mine last night who says she may end up
joining the Church after all, she is so impressed with this Pope.

I’ve been kind of horrified about some of the things the Pope has said, I think
he makes it look too much like “anything goes”. But I am reserving judgment…
after all, he is the POPE!

I hope and pray that he knows what he’s doing! Looks like he might>.👍
 
I didn’t particularly like Benedict either until I began reading his books “Jesus of Nazareth”. The man I discovered was nothing like the hard line neo-con that had been portrayed by the media. I have since been working my way through his writings and homilies, there is nothing Francis is saying that Benedict didn’t say. But Benedict is not as easily accessible to someone with little grounding in philosophy and theology. A friend of mine, who has a degree in the humanities, tried to read Benedict’s first encyclical at my recommendation. Her reaction was, “do you actually understand this?”

Pope Francis seems to be trying to make things as simple as possible, this often leads to misunderstanding and misrepresentation of his ideas because he doesn’t link his thoughts to doctrine like Benedict and John Paul did. I must admit, I do tend to ignore him, not because I don’t like him or disagree with him but because I find the media frenzy around him overdramatic. I hope all those running back to the church because of Francis’ media image aren’t disappointed when they discover that really not much has changed. The trappings may get rearranged but the dogmas are still the same.

When all is said and done the man you must encounter and follow is not Benedict, Francis, or any other religious leader, it is Jesus. Then one must decide which church best reflects Christ’s teachings.
 
Because the American media sensationalizes the news and is anti-Catholic.

They paint Popes as “out-of-touch” anyway they can. They painted the last Pope as way too conservative and the new one as way too liberal (notice how they do that with politicians too… no one is moderate).

Remember, America is a Protestant country. In colonial America, being Catholic was against the law in parts of the colonies. Public officials had to take the following oath before being admitted:

"I, N, do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever: and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous…"

BTW - North Carolina did not eliminate this oath until 1868!

Remember, it wasn’t too long ago that people though it was dangerous to have a Catholic President (not to mention the only Catholic President we have had was murdered in office and then his brother was killed too).

NOW … I AM NOT trying to say that there is a conscience conspiracy against Catholics, but there is a deep rooted (and perhaps unconscious) prejudice against Catholics in this country. As proof, in a pew at my parish is a “Catholic Bible for Teens” with a section in its preface teaching Catholic teens how to respond to Protestant teens calling them non-Christians, idol worshipers, etc. (It’s really sad how some Protestant fundamentalist do not consider us Christians.)
 
A bit off-topic, but it’s interesting to compare the news reporting/media during the early years of Blessed Pope John Paul II’s pontificate between that of Pope Francis. You might be surprised to find very similar articles. 😉
 
Joe_5859 said:
A lot of it has to do with expectations, perceptions and (as M-Dent said) assumptions.

When Benedict was elected, he had a reputation as being a hard-line doctrinal conservative. The media largely expected him to be a distant, unbending, ivory tower theologian. And so anything he said that fit that narrative got a headline. Anything that did not got glossed over.

With Francis, there was excitement at him being an unknown. No one knew much about him. But right out of the gate, he was a pope of firsts: first pope from the new world, first Jesuit pope, first pope to take the name Francis. Then there was his simple humility (like paying for his hotel bill) that really set the media on a path to basically portray Francis as the anti-Benedict. And similarly, anything he says that fits that narrative gets a headline. Anything that does not gets glossed over.
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I think you’ve hit on a lot of the explanation if not all of it! Pope Francis seems to be a Rohrschach blot which certain persons see in his every word and deed that which they desire to see. And there’s a lot of glossin’ over… :rolleyes:
 
kozlosap said:
:)Papa Francis appears to be trying to become an evangelist for the whole world, which is awesome! Is there any downside to preaching the Gospels, especially those concerned with mercy and love? I have a friend who left the church 26 years ago. Today she told me that she is planning on attending mass this weekend because she wants to be part of the Holy Father’s active Church that is welcoming to all sinners.
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But the Church has always welcomed sinners because we are all sinners. Will she stop attending again when she realizes that no doctrine has been changed?

And for everyone giving stories about friends suddnely returning after years away because now they believe the church approves contraception, same sex marriage, etc, I already know of 2 friends of mine who as of today are going SSPX and vowing never to set foot in a canonical parish again. Why? Because of Pope Francis. This is a 2 way street.
 
AdvanceAlways said:
But the Church has always welcomed sinners because we are all sinners. Will she stop attending again when she realizes that no doctrine has been changed?

And for everyone giving stories about friends suddnely returning after years away because now they believe the church approves contraception, same sex marriage, etc, I already know of 2 friends of mine who as of today are going SSPX and vowing never to set foot in a canonical parish again. Why? Because of Pope Francis. This is a 2 way street.
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Rather because of “virtual Francis”
 
I posted this in the main thread about the interview, but what’s interesting is Pope Benedict actually said the exact same thing that has the media flipping out:
Pope Benedict XVI:
We should not allow our faith to be drained by too many discussions of multiple, minor details, but rather, should always keep our eyes in the first place on the greatness of Christianity.

I remember, when I used go to Germany in the 1980s and '90s, that I was asked to give interviews and I always knew the questions in advance. They concerned the ordination of women, contraception, abortion and other such constantly recurring problems.

If we let ourselves be drawn into these discussions, the Church is then identified with certain commandments or prohibitions; we give the impression that we are moralists with a few somewhat antiquated convictions, and not even a hint of the true greatness of the faith appears. I therefore consider it essential always to highlight the greatness of our faith - a commitment from which we must not allow such situations to divert us.
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vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061109_concl-swiss-bishops_en.html
 
The secular media has been trying very hard to twist and distort anything that Pope Francis says. I think it would be great if the Pope would chastise the secular media for their despicable dishonesty in reporting.
 
MarcoPolo said:
Such quotes from him are not hard to find. Theories?
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HH Benedict XVI was notoriously conservative† from his prior time as head of the CDF. Even the liberals in the media couldn’t convince themselves to believe anything he’s say would advance their agenda.

The media is trying to twist the words of HH Francis to support the liberal agenda… and they have a somewhat better chance of being believed because he’s not got the rep of being “God’s Pitbull” that HH Benedict had. Moreover, his extant reputation is that of a humanist, from an order noted for some of it’s most liberal members spouting some extremely liberal theories in some very public ways, and for some of their institutions allowing extremely liberal activities on their premises.

† from a civil/secular standpoint, at least. In terms of Liberal/Conservative within the Church, he’s pretty well moderate but legalistic.
 
Genesis315 said:
I posted this in the main thread about the interview, but what’s interesting is Pope Benedict actually said the exact same thing that has the media flipping out:

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061109_concl-swiss-bishops_en.html
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Thank you for posting this. I should have known Benedict had said it first:o. The reason the media didn’t write about this is 1. I doubt they paid any attention to anything Benedict said outside of media events. 2. Few, if any journalists would have the maturity or intellect to read this speech.
I wonder if Francis is cribbing his speeches from Benedict’s writings?😉
 
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