Don't believe there is an Anti-Catholic bias in the media?

Think again!

The sex abuse scandal that is currently in the news is a horrible thing. I know that. We as Catholics have to endure this and endure the struggles against our Church perpetrated by evil desires and some evil people. What we must do is call for the truth. Truth in the accusations, truth in the way things are handled by the Church, and truth in the reporting about these incidents.

Unfortunately, there is a HORRIBLE Anti-Catholic bias in the media. They are attempting to use these scandals to mar and destroy the Church. If you don't believe that, and think I am exaggerating let me use an example from ABC News Online story: Pope Benedict Cannot Be Fired.

It is a silly headline to begin with, but I understand the outrage. I also understand many people have a very primary understanding of the Church and the position of Pope.

What I cannot understand is how ABC News can and will blatantly misinform and lie about the facts of this ordeal. Or how they allow things to be printed that are not only wrong, but also use the source of that misinformation as a credible analyst on this issue.

Let me show you some examples of what I am talking about:

"He is really accountable to no one, and that is the history," said former priest Richard Sipe, author of the 1990 book, "A Secret World" about the priesthood. "There have been a pope or two who have resigned, several hundred have been murdered, but it's a very stable organization from the top down. What other monarchy do you know that's lasted for 2,000 years?"

"He is untouchable, there is no question about that," Sipe said.

This is a small point, but it shows the lengths to which ABC and other media outlets will go to harm and taint the view of the Church and the Papacy. So let me go through the problems with this blurb.

1. This is a former priest. So they are pushing him as some sort of AUTHORITY on the Papacy. What they don't tell you is WHY he is not longer a priest. They instead allow the reader to assume why. Most people will infer that he left because of some displeasure.
2. He wrote a book in 1990. It doesn't say how long he was a priest, when he left the priesthood, or what the books was about. Again they leave it to the readers to infer what it is about based on the title and the theme of this story. Wonder what they want us to assume? 
3. The book, "A Secret World", isn't about the secrecy of the priesthood or the Papacy. In fact, a quick browse of its Amazon Page shows that it is instead a book about the celibacy of priests. Ahh... the whole "this wouldn't happen if we let priests marry" angle... is that really where ABC wants to go?
4. So what does Mr. Sipe say? Well first he says that a pope or two have resigned. In actuality easy and quick research shows that it was more than that. The number is around 7 but there is a lot of disagreement about the actual number, and it depends on what you count as a "resignation." Regardless, I don't think Sipe was trying to be accurate here, instead I think he was trying to make it seem as if few men WILLINGLY relinquish this "power."
5. Then comes the statement that blew me away... "several hundred have been murdered..."?!?!? What? No. That can't be right? Of course not, but let's see how BAD of a misstatement this was.
1. There have been 266 Popes*. Now, granted this number is debatable or arguable for various reasons. For argument sake, let's go with this number, since it is used by Newadvent.org
2. The term several is highly ambiguous. Yet, it often means to be more than 2 or 3 but "not a lot." Again let's err on the low side and by several he meant between 300-400.
3. The problem is already evident.
4. Wikipedia lists 8 official "Murdered Popes." Generally I won't use wikipedia for "research" but I figure that at the VERY least the editors and writers at ABC know how to use google and can click on the wikipedia article. (They also list 11 "suspicious deaths" of Popes.
5. So 7-10 resignations = "a Pope or two" while 8 Murders = "several hundred."
6. Monarchy. Do I even have to explain how wrong this is? Ok good.

So how does this show bias? I think it is pretty evident. ABC clearly didn't check the facts, nor did they explain Mr. Sipe's comments. They left too much to the imagination of their readers. These are professionals. They get paid to work hours a day doing JUST this. I mean, this writer probably worked on this article for days, and didn't fact check these things? Why? 

I'll tell you why. They want to paint the Church in the worst possible light. There isn't another explanation. If there is one... tell me, and I will easily tell you how that explanation is an excuse and not an explanation. Sure a media source can write a story with any slant they want. Yet ABC purports itself to be an objective news source. It is clearly Anti-Catholic. So... if in just that one paragraph they are willing to allow so much misinformation and Anti-Catholic sentiment through... imagine how much more exists in the rest of this story, and the rest of the stories out there by other outlets with an even larger anti-Catholic and anti-Christian agenda? Be careful what you read.

-Posted by: Joe