The media has been unfair to say the least to Pope Benedict the past week. But MSNBC crossed a line today. Big time. The liberal news network had a headline up that reads “Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far.” This is crass libel. Awful stuff. No explanation can explain this away and they haven’t offered anything up yet.
The The Catholic League writes:
Catholic League president Bill Donohue accuses MSNBC of libeling Pope Benedict XVI:
Go to the home page of MSNBC and click on “World News.” From there click on “Americas.” Next click on the article, “Losing Their Religion? Catholicism in Turmoil.” Scroll down and in the “Click for Related Content” section there is an article entitled, “Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far.” Clicking on this piece takes the reader to an article about a homosexual German priest who had sex with males in the 1980s. It says absolutely nothing about the pope. Yet MSNBC paints Pope Benedict XVI as a child molester in the tease to the article.
And check out Father Z for more. He’s really ticked off and calling for action. Even though MSNBC has since removed the headline Father Z has the screenshot.
March 30, 2010 at 9:12 pm
It's not libel – just a mistake. MSNBC slipped up and typed "Pope" instead of "Priest." The article was about the German priest, not the pope, if you followed the link. They did not write about the Pope abusing anybody.
I hate the liberal bias of MSNBC as much as anybody, but you have to be fair. All this hysteria makes Catholics look quite bad.
Again, we can't villify the big bad media, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude for exposing this scandal in the first place. Where is the rousing call to action for the victims of this debacle? Why do we only get hopping mad when a typo happens, not when children are molested and it's covered up by clergy?
Why? I really need this explained to me. No one has bashed any Catholics. We've pretty much done that job ourselves, don't you think?
March 30, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I'm sorry, but that's NOT a typo. Any good editor would've caught it. There's a big difference between pope and priest. None of those letters are even close together!
March 30, 2010 at 9:19 pm
-Blackrep-
"It's not libel – just a mistake. MSNBC slipped up and typed "Pope" instead of "Priest.""
YOU can belive it was an honest error if you'd like… I'm not so convinced…
March 30, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Hmm, do we now face, with honestly, that loyal Roman Catholics are all now facing the wild beasts in the arena?
Esp. 6;10-18
March 30, 2010 at 9:26 pm
The typist was putting a bunch of titles on links, and instead of "priest" he put "Pope" because there were other hyperlinks in the group that said "Pope." How hard is that to understand? They took it down when the mistake was pointed out.
BANG HEAD ON TABLE. This is too sad. Get your ire up about those poor children, not about this. To wallow in this rancor about something so trivial when children have been abused looks petty and cold-hearted to Christians everywhere. We want to handle this with dignity and compassion and show the world that we are concerned first and foremost about the victims of our clergy.
March 30, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Matthew 16:18
March 30, 2010 at 9:37 pm
As Catholics we know the victims are being played by the media. It is time for these men to stand in their faith and become witnesses to the fruitfulness of Gods' grace. Believe in the promises of God-his blessing will bring "full measure" when you sow the seed of faith. It is the only way to combat the devils work, the abuse and those who delight in their attempts to narrate the scandal.
March 30, 2010 at 9:50 pm
As noted above, there is a great desire to undermine the authority of the bishops and Pope in the US in an attempt to lend credibility to other Catholics who disregard the episcopal guidance and form their own interpretation of the faith. This mistake coming from the propaganda arm of the administration is just so convenient. The Church must explore all legal options to enforce a punitive measure that will prevent such recklessness in the future. This is another way to make Pelosi, Kennedy, Stupak, Keehan and CHA to look like reasonable if not faithful to the spirit of Catholicism. I think it would be naive for the Church to swallow that apology hook, line and sinker. I move for a court case to be filed and damages levied. This is the Vicar of our Incarnate God Who face is being dragged through the mud. I think many will contribute to the legal fees that will be incurred when filing such a case.
March 30, 2010 at 9:52 pm
"Get your ire up about those poor children." Exactly. And the ire of Catholics is indeed up, because Our Lord Himself is very clear that children are to be protected. The Church has taught and lived that instruction.
The ire of MSNBC is, unfortunately, nothing but the same-old / same old anti-Catholicism of the John Knox sort, and not about children at all.
March 30, 2010 at 9:53 pm
A typo in a headline?!!!! You've got to be on dope!
March 30, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Obama is on DOPE. (Typo? maybe…maybe not.)
March 30, 2010 at 9:56 pm
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March 30, 2010 at 10:03 pm
If the mass media was really concerned about child abuse, they would report honestly on the abuse in the public school system. Catholics should challenge them to compare the abuse that has occurred in the Catholic Church in the last decade with the abuse that has occurred in the public school system. If reported honestly, the difference would be staggering.
March 30, 2010 at 10:10 pm
What if I wrote "Blackrep Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far." in a web site with millions of hits. What if that story got forwarded millions of times? What if the apology never got forwarded because the senders did not check the same story again or did not bother? How would you feel? How would your reputation be like? What if people acted on that headline without reading the story?
March 30, 2010 at 10:20 pm
It's hard to pick out the truth from media these days. How much of what media says are said for their agenda's sake rather than the truth?
This century, media personalities will outnumber lawyers in hell…
You read right, this is not a typo: "MEDIA PERSONALITIES WILL OUTNUMBER LAWYERS IN HELL!"
March 30, 2010 at 11:03 pm
That is one hell of a typo…no pun intended…if that is indeed what is was (and not something more sinister). Nice goin, MSNBC.
Blackrep: I am SO tired of self-righteous comments like, "get your ire up about those poor children"!
We are nearly a DECADE into public awareness about this crisis. No one has demonstrated more "ire" about the victims than the orthodox Catholics who have been leading the cries for reform and justice for the victims. Faithful Catholics have every right to be irate about this widening media hatchet job, the annual flogging of the Church right before Easter. Enough, already.
I am not one to see the devil lurking around every corner, but I have the distinct sense that something very evil has been emboldened out there.
Is it a coincidence that people are piling on the Pope, the one man who has done more to clean up this particular mess in the Church than ANYONE else, right before Easter and right after sweeping measures are passed that will result in more deaths among the weakest members of our society?
Christ is still being scourged, and is still hanging among thieves.
May God have mercy on us all. We surely need it.
March 30, 2010 at 11:10 pm
I dunno why blackrep is so angry that it is said that "MSNBC libels the Pope" – do you have any inside info on this? That this is just a typo?
It seems to me that MSNBC knowingly typed in "Pope" knowing that it will invite more people to click on that link and later claim 'oh, it's just a typo' – it's plain scam. And in that sense MSNBC does libel the Pope.
March 30, 2010 at 11:34 pm
I have to wonder who blackrep works for…MSNBC? Pelosi? A rep in Congress? Sounds to me like somebody wants this swept under the rug. I'm not sure how far a lawsuit for libel would go because they did take it down after the deluge of e-mails, but like many have already said, that isn't enough.
For the last few days I've been trying to correct the lies told by Maureen Dowd and the NYT and everywhere I go, I'm told to bug off and quit defending the abusers. Their blind hate for the Catholic Church is all they need to continue to fan the flames of this hate speech.
I just heard that Law and Order ran or is going to run an old show about pedophile priests. Again, it's the media at work to destroy the Church.
March 31, 2010 at 1:23 am
MSNBC made a somewhat similar gaffe a few years ago during an interview with Niger Innis, head of the Congress on Racial Equality.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/innis.asp
So the headline could have been an honest mistake. But I do agree that it is no coincidence that "people are piling on the Pope" right now.
Elaine
March 31, 2010 at 1:53 am
When you are a highly visible, multimillion dollar media organ such as the NYTimes or MSNBC you should not be afforded the luxury of making typos or lack fact checking such as they have exhibited over the past week. This is not your high school newspaper! If this is the kind of shoddiness we can expect from now on then no wonder people are not buying newspapers and sticking with getting their news from Twitter.
For example that's where I got this link to the article written by the Judge of the Fr. Murphy case. He was quoted in the NYTimes article and said he was never contacted to verify the quotes which aren't his. I think it is a must read and deserves to be more widely distributed than the NYTimes article since it is the truth:
http://catholicanchor.org/wordpress/?p=601