Sunday, November 21, 2010

"Catholic" News Service? Not Really

The "Catholic" News Service does its damndest (literally) to obscure what Benedict XVI actually said.

Headline:

Pope's remarks in book open new chapter in condom debate

Umnnnnhhhh...that's 50% true. What he said has not been said before by a Pope.

First graf:

In a new book, Pope Benedict XVI said the use of condoms may be a sign of moral responsibility in some specific situations when the intention is to reduce the risk of AIDS.

Only about 25% true. The phrase "some specific situations" actually is ONE "specific situation," and it is a perfectly logical extension of Church teaching on rubbers.

There are a couple of grafs of wasted ink. Then:

But the pope went on to say that in particular cases -- he mentioned prostitutes -- condom use may be justified as a first step toward taking moral responsibility for one's actions.

Now only about 10% true. There IS a key word which CNS deleted.

New we're ~10 grafs in--about 5 grafs past where most people read--and CNS finally decides to print the actual quotation!

"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom..."

Since homosexual relations never produce offspring, 'contraceptive' is irrelevant--and 'contraceptive' is the basis of the Church's opposition to rubber-usage.

IOW, the Pope said nothing which is controversial.

Meantime, the "Catholic" News Service people are trying to get AP (or CNNNBCCBSABC) jobs.

And, predictably, a local dissident decides, with no basis in fact nor in print, that this "extends" to married couples. Expect Dan Maguire interview to do same.

4 comments:

  1. Let us not forget that CNS is a propeganda arm of the USCCB.
    I'll stick with CNA?EWTN instead.

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  2. Well they just followed perpetuated the mess that L’Osservatore Romano reported.

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  3. Some many pixels have been generated on this already that I hesitate to add to the avalanche. But Fr. John Hunwicke (and Anglo-Catholic priest in Oxford, validly ordained, who will I hope soon be part of the Ordinariate), put it most succinctly:

    ”Having contemplated the BBC translation of the German texts, I see what the Holy Father's words mean. He is saying that if a rent-boy has unprotected sex, he is committing two sins: the mortal sin of homosexual genital intercourse; and the mortal sin of risking communicating a lethal infection. If, however, he uses a condom, while he is still committing the first of those mortal sins, he has to a degree excluded the second. By so doing he has, as we might say, taken a step in the right direction. But he has still committed a mortal sin and is still, objectively speaking, not in a state of grace. There is a sense in which it is not as bad to commit one sin as it is to commit two; but the commission of one mortal sin still means that one is objectively in that state of alienation from God which we Christians call Not Being In a State of Grace.”

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