Great Moments in Journalistic Ignorance

I'm no expert on journalism or religion, but sometimes I pick up the morning paper and almost do a spit take with my iced tea. Yesterday was one of those mornings.

Take a gander at Georgie Ann Geyer writing about the Pope's visit next week. Before I got 5 column inches into it, I spotted errors that would have never made it past her first draft or an editor if either had an even passing familiarity with the subject.

Exhibit A:

Next to his predecessor, the image of Benedict was often that of a snarling defender at the gate of Vatican ultraconservativism, standing side by side with the Swiss Guards, moral bayonets at the ready, defending the past.

Colorful. But more of a reflection of a cartoon you may have seen He is constantly looking at current writers in theology and philosophy and accepting some thought - rejecting some.

Exhibit B:

A conservative who grew up in Germany during World War II, Benedict will never agree with Vatican II, the historic 1962-'65 liberal confab of the church.

Um...he was there and helped form some of the documents that where produced by the council. Vatican 2" wasn't just about giving us guitar masses. For the record, Pope Benedict ain't crazy about guitar masses.

Exhibit C:

Most important, he has overseen the church's efforts to define a series of "new sins" that could change the world, if applied. ...

(Quoting some guy that works in the curia -ed) He went on to speak of everything from illegal drug use, genetic manipulation, environmental pollution, bad ecological practices, and economic inequality in which the poor are getting poorer and the rich growing richer, fueling unsustainable social injustice. These, he said, are the "new sins."

Those all could fit under the tried and true seven. Besides attributing this claptrap to Benedict is like holding a head of state responsible for some bureaucrat's report about a proposed change on parking regulations on government leased property.

Exhibit D:

No one knows exactly why the pope chose to come to America at this particular time.

2008 is the bicentennial of the designation of Baltimore as an Archdiocese. Just sayin'

Exhibit E:

He is, amazingly, even an admirer of much of Protestantism.

Why are you amazed, Georgie? Are you assuming that Catholic leaders are by definition religious bigots? Wouldn't we be bigots to make such an assumption?