How To Emasculate a Pope

Pope John Paul II is in Bratislava, Slovakia this week, promoting a return to Christian values in the face of an ever-secularizing European Union. So what does the world report on? That the Pope failed to read his one-page address to churchgoes during Mass, appearing weak and frail.

Now the Yahoo! article really isn’t that bad, but every time the press mentions JP II, they never seem to address his message – only his health. It’s effective in leading astray those who only read the first two paragraphs, but anyone who takes the time to read the address knows that the Pope is doing an incredible amount. Some great stuff is coming out of the Vatican nowadays, and with one simple sleight-of-hand trick the international press seems able to shrug it off.

Hopefully mainstream Catholics can see through the veneer. Maybe it really is time to go back to an era of Catholic schools, Catholic press, Catholic hospitals, etc. . . At least now I understand why the practice was instituted in the first place in the United States and abroad.