Arkansas Catholic and other Catholic periodicals are more important than they have ever been in the past.
News is circulated around the world instantly and then it is interpreted by the traditional media and independent bloggers. With the popularity of Pope Francis over the past 10 months, we have seen an increase in the number of Vatican stories. He has been featured in every major metropolitan newspaper, named Time’s Person of the Year and has graced the covers of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, not the traditional places to read Catholic news.
Many times it begins “The pope said this” or “Pope Francis is changing that.” He has been described as “kind of liberal” as well as someone who teaches “pure Marxism.” When he famously said, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gay people, the media immediately interpreted it to mean the Church was going to change its views on homosexual unions.
If you believe every story in the daily newspapers, you would have a skewed impression of the pope. Pope Francis clearly understands this. “When you express too much, you run the risk of being misunderstood,” he said in September.
Most of the time the confusion has happened because the pope’s quotes were taken out of context or his words were translated incorrectly.
Clearly the pope is saying things in a fresh and unique way and he has diff erent priorities, but so far he has in no way changed the teachings of the Church.
February is Catholic Press Month, and it is our time to celebrate the gift we have in Catholic media to deliver news and insightful commentary on our diocese, nation and world. In Arkansas, we have several avenues to share Catholic news. Arkansas Catholic is printed weekly and its website, www.arkansas-catholic.org, publishes many of its stories. The newspaper also has Facebook and Twitter accounts to update readers with more Catholic news.
With this newspaper and online media we are able to present the facts about Pope Francis and the Church. We are able to interpret new Vatican documents. We are able to give our informed opinions about our faith.
Francis X. Rocca, Catholic News Service’s Vatican bureau chief, said, “For the benefit of its Catholic readers and viewers, (the Catholic press) can provide an explicit corrective to oversimplifications, misunderstandings and outright distortions in secular coverage of the Church.”
Thank you for reading Arkansas Catholic. We encourage you to share articles on Catholicism and Pope Francis and continue to spread a positive image of the Church. Don’t just read the headlines. With the pope’s popularity, non-practicing Catholics and other Christians are more interested in hearing the Church’s point of view. We need to be armed with the facts and welcome them in to learn more.
