Is the Press Hiding What the New Pope Is Really Saying?

He’s infuriated traditionalists, annoyed conservatives and alarmed church bureaucrats with his embrace of evolution, defense of gay priests and praise of Communists. Argentine-born Pope Francis has startled the world by forgiving Catholics who aborted babies. He’s made it easier to nullify marriages. He’s taken on causes never before addressed by a pontiff, urging the faithful to take public transit, plant trees, turn off lights and recycle. He’s called Europe a barren old woman. At Christmas 2014, instead of praising the Vatican’s Curia, or senior governing body, he accused them of rivalry, vainglory, chatter, failing to “radiate joy,” grumbling, gossip and “funeral faces” – taking themselves too seriously. He has urged Catholics to reject comfort and instead serve the poor. He’s criticized traditional ritual worship and raised the possibility that non-Christian religions are performing God’s work. He has called capitalism’s excesses the “dung of the devil” and apologized for Spanish conquistadors who sacked the New World’s Inca, Maya and Aztec empires, hungry for gold. Not your average pope!

The Most Re-Tweeted Pontiff

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Polls show that Francis, leader of the planet’s largest religious group, the Roman Catholic Church, has become one of the most popular, trusted and re-tweeted public figures – even among non-Catholics. That would explain the immense crowds at the 8th World Meeting of Families – September 22-27, 2015, in Philadelphia. Held every three years, past locations included Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and Milan. The Vatican confirmed Pope Francis decided to make his first visit to the United States during the event – immediately boosting its forecasted attendance. Open to all, the inspirational event was billed as a week of celebration, discussion and learning. One million people attended Pope Benedict’s mass at the 2012 World Meeting of Families in Milan.

A News Media Favorite

Because of his immense popularity and his tendency to be candid, the press has had a heyday with this pope – often misquoting him to create sensationalistic news stories. For example, did he really tell Catholics to accept homosexuality? After an interview aboard the papal plane en route to Brazil in July 2013, headlines screamed “Of gay priests, Pope Francis asks, 'Who am I to judge?'” He was answering a reporter’s question of about Catholic priests – all who must take vows to engage in no sex of any kind. What if they are sexually attracted to the same sex? Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, had called homosexuality an "intrinsic moral evil." So, the new pope’s response was startling. Or was it really? It turns out he was just repeating a teaching long upheld by the church that if a priest has sexual urges, but doesn’t act on them – remaining faithful to his vows – he is merely human. “Who am I to judge him?” asked the Pope – if a priest has prayerfully resisted carnal urges and, as a result, committed no sin?

Occasionally They Get it Right

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Some of the banner headlines have been accurate. Indeed, he did dive headlong into the ongoing controversy of whether climate change is a natural cycle, as evidenced by the Ice Age and Medieval decades of unusual warmth – or whether global warming is a manmade catastrophe. He warned of “synthetic agrotoxins” harming birds and insects and “bioaccumulation” from industrial waste. He urged Catholics who scoff at climate change to make an “ecological conversion,” appealing to “committed and prayerful Christians,” who “with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment.” Appalled, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said, “Essentially what this papal encyclical is saying is that every Catholic should vote for the Democrat Party. How else do you interpret it when the pope comes out and sounds like Al Gore on global warming and climate change?”

Bureaucrats? Evolution?

Did he really blast Europe, calling the continent a barren old woman? “In many quarters,” he declared, “we encounter a general impression of weariness and aging, of a Europe which is now a ‘grandmother,’ no longer fertile and vibrant. As a result, the great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions." Did he really embrace evolution over the Genesis story of God’s creation? His words: "God is not a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life. Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."

Spiritual Alzheimer’s?

Did he really chew out the Curia – the powerful Vatican bureaucrats in his Christmas 2014 message? Indeed, he accused them of “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” what he called “a progressive decline of the spiritual faculties,” and “existential schizophrenia,” which he described as, “the disease of those who live a double life...the spiritual vacuum that degrees or academic qualifications cannot fill.” What about the headline that he had declared “Communists are secret Christians?” His actual words: "I can only say that the Communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian. Poverty is at the center of the Gospel. Communists say that all this is Communism. Sure, twenty centuries later. So when they speak, one can say to them, 'But then you are a Christian'."

Real Families

And what about his proclamation of what makes a family? “Dear families, you know very well that the true joy which we experience in the family is not superficial; it does not come from material objects, from the fact that everything seems to be going well. True joy comes from a profound harmony between persons. The basis of this deep joy is the presence of God in the family and his love, which is welcoming, merciful, and respectful towards all. If God’s love is lacking, the family loses its harmony. Self-centeredness prevails and joy fades. Dear families, always live in faith and simplicity, like the Holy Family of Nazareth! The joy and peace of the Lord be always with you!”

Truth Isn’t Popular

Such nuggets of truth don’t sell newspapers! They don’t create sensationalistic headlines. That’s why you didn’t hear on the CBS Evening News or ABC World News Tonight or read on the front page of the New York Times Pope Francis’ concerns that the family is under attack. In spontaneous remarks during a meeting with the Schönstatt Apostolic Movement in October 2014, he blasted attempts to redefine what is a family, pointing out that while there are now many “new forms” of unions being proposed, such unions are “not marriage.” “It’s an association but not a marriage. And sometimes we have to say very clear things and we just have to say it.” That puts him in direct opposition of the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. Yet, did you read his statement anywhere in the media?

Under Attack!

Speaking without notes or a prepared text, Francis declared at that meeting that the family “never was so attacked as it is nowadays. There is a crisis in the family.” He said it is “evident” that “the Sacrament of Matrimony has been devalued” and has been reduced to merely a “rite.” He related that many times in his pastoral work, he would ask a couple why they didn’t get married. They’d respond that they didn’t have enough money for the wedding reception and traditional celebration. “So the social is the most important part and not the sacrament,” he lamented. He admitted that the acceptance of cohabitation without marriage had even reached into his own family. Even so, he declared: “This doesn’t work.”

Is He Pro-Gay Marriage?

What about those headlines that he was downplaying the Catholic church’s opposition to same-sex marriage? In that airborne interview on July 28, 2013, he said, "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this in a beautiful way, saying … wait a moment, how does it say it … it says: ‘no one should marginalize these people for this, they must be integrated into society.” In another interview, two gay rights activists, Marcelo Márquez and Andrés Albertsen, say he expressed support for the spiritual needs of "homosexual people." Those remarks were seen as a dramatic change of tone from the papacy, so much so that the American LGBT magazine “The Advocate” named him their Person of the Year for 2013.

Paradoxical and Manipulative

A few days later on January 5, 2014, the Vatican officially denied that Francis supports gay unions. In response to various newspaper articles, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi called such misinterpretations "paradoxical" and manipulative – that they misused the pope’s words. In 2015, Pope Francis declared that "the family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage" and suggested that same-sex marriage "disfigures God's plan for creation." In an address at St. Peter's Square, he endorsed the Republic of Slovakia’s referendum banning gay marriage and gay adoption stating: "I wish to express my appreciation to the entire Slovak church, encouraging everyone to continue their efforts in defense of the family, the vital cell of society." Of course, that didn’t make it into American headlines!

What Will He Say in Philadelphia?

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Will the media pay any attention? During his trip to Brazil for World Youth Day 2013, he spoke bluntly about the importance of marriage and the family: "Today, there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion. They say that it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision ‘forever,’ because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love."