'RADIO SILENCE' IN THE MEDIA

How quiet the media are, about Pope Francis and Archbishop Vigano!

I heard a media commentator today describe the silence in the media as 'creepy'. Just what I thought, having expected Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano's testimony to be all over the papers - until I thought how Pope Francis has promoted the homosexual agenda, and the media being left-wing are pro-homosexual. They're on his side.

But having watched the journos on that flight from Dublin home to Rome, I'd go further and agree with this commentator that "the media think Pope Francis is one of them". 

He spoke to those journalists not as the world leader of the millions of faithful Catholics wanting to know what the hell has been going on, but as a chum, their equal: "You read it, you make your judgment" - a response which the Pope's right-hand man, Cardinal Parolin, has just regurgitated. 

Obviously they haven't been able to think up a better one. Pope Francis wasn't "going to say a word". It was up to the media to make of it what they wished. 


Which was, very little. As the commentator said, "They're giving it as much of a pass as they can".

He drew parallels between Pope Francis and Juan Peron, citing "grandstanding and posturing", which is grist to the media mill. Right from the start, when after his election Pope Francis paid his own hotel bill and caught a taxi, the media fawned on him. 

But I was puzzled. Humility doesn't draw attention to itself. And: If  you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of the world - therefore the world hates you (Jn 15: 18,19). The world loves Francis.

Right now, Cardinal Donald Wuerl is variously reported to be in hiding in a some hotel in Washington, flying to the Vatican, or there already, at the Pope's bidding. Because the US Department of Justice may open a RICO (Racketeer Influences and Corrupt Organisations Act) against the Church, and Wuerl would be a prime target for arrest for sex abuse cover-up and his testimony would lead straight to Rome. That's the Vatican's biggest fear.

Vigano's testimony that Pope Benedict placed sanctions on the former Cardinal McCarrick, now disgraced, has been corroborated. McCarrick was heard being told by the Papal Nuncio to leave the seminary in Washington. Not only that, but the priest ousted from his room at what we'd call the presbytery in an 'upscale' part of Washington has described in detail the renovations made to accommodate the  mystery guest: McCarrick.

Conservative US commentator Rush Limbaugh reminds us how Pope Francis recently summoned oil and finance executives to the Vatican to warn them of climate change which was "disturbing and a cause for real concern". 

"Has Pope Francis convened the cardinals?" Limbaugh asks. "Is rampant pedophilia not 'disturbing and a cause for real concern'? This is rampant and blatant hypocrisy!" 

As one who regularly receives Catholic JPIC newsletters which endlessly bang on about saving the planet instead of the Church's real business of saving souls, I have to say that strikes a chord.

The crowd at a Papal audience in Rome yesterday shouted, "Vigano! Vigano! Vigano!" They were presumably faithful Catholics, or they wouldn't be there. They want Pope Francis to "say a word". Confirm or deny!  

Faithful Catholics know not to believe what they read in the papers. They shouldn't need to. They want to believe what they're told by their pastors.  

Go to Lifesite News and sign a pledge to pray for Archbishop Vigano. God will hear the cries of his faithful, lowly people. 

Yesterday evening, praying the Divine Office, I was unusually affected by the Magnificat antiphon:

 The Lord brought down the mighty from their seats, and raised up the lowly.