Monday, September 03, 2007

Reuter's Eco-Coordinated Pope

I'm always telling people, particularly non-Catholics, to be careful about what they read about the Pope and the Vatican because the media just does a terrible job in explaining anything. I just read an article from OSV where in particular Raymond Arroyo (I love that guy!) explains why he thinks that is.

AmP however noted a case of media stupidity that made me laugh. Sometimes the mistakes the media makes in Catholic matters is somewhat understandable because it can be a hard thing to understand - not that it means they shouldn't be getting it right - but I understand it. This however is just hilarious stupidity. In an article about the Pope's recent environmentally friendly homily Reuters says...

Intentionally wearing green vestments


I hate to break it to the researchers over at Reuters, but my priest was wearing green too. And thats not an environmental statement its just because green is the liturgical color of ordinary time which we are of course in. Come on, wasn't there anyone on staff that would know that? Its not even a very difficult thing to know, thats something they teach you as a little kid in Catechism. But of course then that wouldn't fit into the agenda being promoted.

Maybe the guy writing this article is the same guy Raymond wrote about in that article I mentioned...

Arroyo recalled one journalist for a major network approaching him at the papal conclave in 2005.

“He said, ‘I know they call this the Holy See, so when did the water recede?’ And he was being serious,” Arroyo told Our Sunday Visitor.


Additionally, Creative Minority Report (H/T Curt Jester), has an amusing take on future papal vestment messages.

This all got me to thinking. If using vestment color as an endorsement of any liberal hobby horse becomes a fad, what kind of headlines might we see next?

Pope Supports Gay Marriage
This advent, the Pope intentionally wore purple to signal his covert support for the Gay and Lesbian lifestyle. The Pope needs to preach in this way because the right wing curia at the Vatican would never let him openly endorse gay marriage. However, his intentions are now clear.
OR
Pope Endorses Hillary Clinton
Pope Benedict signaled his support for the presidential candidate by wearing rose colored vestments on the same day the Hillary Rodham Clinton wore a rose colored pant suit to a nationally televised debate. Vatican watchers indicate that this is a clear sign the the Pope has taken a position on the American election.


Here's a picture of the Pope's vestments by the way. I don't find them particularly all that nice really. And I'm sort of left wondering where he got that giant piece of broccoli...

2 comments:

John said...

catholic, You're making an assumption that the writers bother to use researchers, or fact checkers.

Witness the recent TNR Beauchamp debacle. It's obvious that whatever the "fact checkers" did, it wasn't very good fact checking.

It always cracks me up when a news story talks about the Pope being against the Iraq War. I'm not a Catholic, but isn't that always the position of the Pope - against war?

It's not just ignorance, it's an institutional bias.

catholicandgop said...

Yeah. Shocking isn't it? That a religious leader would be against armed conflict? LOL.

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Catholic and politically conservative, I graduated with a BA in History (concentration in American) and Political Science. I'm between two parishes; one in Wisconsin that is fairly traditional, and one in Illinois that is fairly liberal. I teach CCD. I work in the food service industry, which basically means I'm working in fast food until I find a better job. I'd like to work for the church somehow. Right now I'm working on getting my teaching certification, although I'm unsure thats the correct path for me. This blog is as random as I am. I hope you enjoy.