Colossal ignorance amongst so many journalists concerning what the Church says and is

Here’s a Pope who condemns unfettered capitalism. So he must be a Marxist, right?

Nope, but it’s hard to convince some people.

by Michael Coren

I hadn’t realized that Pope Francis was a Marxist until two weeks ago. This was when he issued his lyrical, compelling Gospel of Joy and was immediately described as a fellow travelling socialist by left as well as right; the former with delight, the latter with horror.

The truth, of course, is that all the Holy Father did was to bring Pope Leo’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum into the 21st century and condemn state socialism as well as “unfettered capitalism.” But the mingling of ignorance, malice, and absurd wishful thinking from media circles epitomized the way the man and his opinions have been misinterpreted since he was elected pontiff.

It was particularly noticeable, and exasperating, in the larger, left-leaning newspapers and media outlets throughout the English-speaking world. The BBC in Britain, the New York Times in the United States, and a host of others suddenly became interested in the Pope. It was trendy to be Catholic-friendly, at least for a few moments and in a certain way. The often hysterical but nevertheless relatively influential Bronwen Clune proved all this in The Guardian, the liberal conscience in Britain.

“I never thought I’d see the day when non-Catholic people (never mind socialists and atheists) would voice their approval of a Pope. But that is just what happened when Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation delivered last week, talked about unfettered capitalism as a new tyranny, attacked the idolatry of money, called on rich people to share their wealth, and laid out a vision for a decentralised church. Overnight, he became the left’s new pin-up.”

But just in case liberal Catholics out there think all is red and right about the world, the new comrade was quick to put matters right.

“There was a glimmer of hope in my ex-Catholic soul. Not so much that it changes anything for me now, or even realistically for many Catholics in the near future (it will take more than one man to break down 1,300 years of institutionalisation) but there is something appealing in realising that my faith, even though long lost, was not entirely rotten.”

Well, that’s nice of her.

The condescending and suburban nature of the piece aside, it demonstrates rather well the colossal ignorance amongst so many journalists concerning what the Church says and is.

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