Motu Proprio

I haven't written much if anything about the Motu Proprio or to the equally controversial document coming from the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith (thats the 'oh no the Pope doesn't think we're a church' document). I didn't really feel it was necessary. After all, I'm not a scholar, and figured commentary for the moment for those who are or those who have a greater understanding of those documents. I was generally pretty content with them.

The reporting in the press, not so much.

Still, I wasn't going to say anything. Others have already written on the topic, and they have done a much better job than I.

But I read this in the Chicago Tribune today and just thought it was so over the top in its language that I needed to say something. I saw the headline, "Pope's latest moves setting church apart" and made the mistake of thinking it might actually be something other than an over-the-top scare piece.

The first paragraph starts off nice enough.

The recent decision by Pope Benedict XVI to broaden permission for the old Latin mass in Catholic parishes may seem at first glance to be a harmless gesture of goodwill. After all, many Catholics have never felt comfortable with the new mass adopted in the 1960s; they prefer a more quiet, passive worship style.

But then the second paragraph hits like a ton of bricks.

But you don't have to be paranoid to see the return of the Latin mass as a powerful sign of what is to come: a full-bodied campaign by the Vatican to bolster the monarchical, authoritarian claims of the church.

I was actually sort of surprised to see this sort of language aimed at someone not President Bush. After all usually he's the one that you aren't paranoid about when you worry that he's establishing a monarchy.

But you can take a minute and read the rest yourself. Its mostly 'oh noes the Pope is removing the laity from the church' even though Summorum Pontificum does not change the new and still to be widely used mass.

The media seems to have missed the boat on realizing that Papa Ben has been quite liberal in releasing this Motu Proprio. But to do that you'd have to understand the meaning of liberal as increasing greater freedom.

Oh well. Secular reporting on religion in general and the Catholic Church and Vatican in particular is quite bad, so what can we really expect.