Pope Francis is no fan of press criticism — especially when it comes from Roman Catholic news outlets on the doctrinal right.
So here we go again, with another round of tensions in the growing world of Catholic media.
The 84-year-old Argentinian-born pontiff was caught in a candid moment during his recent trip to Slovakia when he was asked about his health after a recent operation.
“Still alive,” the pope replied, “even though some people wanted me to die.”
The shocking statement came in a meeting the pope had with 53 Jesuits from Slovakia on Sept. 12 in Bratislava. Antonio Spadaro, a priest and editor-in-chief of the Rome-based Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, was present at the meeting and on Sept. 21 published the full transcript of the conversation.
The comments immediately sparked a Catholic media war that again highlighted how polarized Catholics have become during Francis’ papacy, as have the official and independent church media that a large swarth of parishioners choose to read.
Asked by another Jesuit at the same gathering how he felt by those who view him with suspicion, Francis replied:
There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope. I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.
The TV channel to which he referred is EWTN, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
The Eternal World Television Network was founded in 1980 by a nun named Mother Angelica and began broadcasting a year later from a garage at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama. Since then, it has grown to become one of the largest and most influential Catholic news organizations in North America and around the world.
This is what the Reporter published on its website, expanding on the pope’s remarks:
“In recent years, EWTN, which is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and is one of the Catholic church’s largest media enterprises, has become known for its regular antagonistic coverage of Pope Francis and partisan political focus. No other Catholic media conglomerate has regularly featured such open criticism of Francis. Most notably, host Raymond Arroyo has regularly promoted and interviewed the schismatic former papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Viganò has previously called for Pope Francis' resignation.”
Vigano, who served as papal nuncio to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, has been a thorn of the side of the pope since the 2018 eruption of the scandal surrounding the fallen former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, when decades-old allegations emerged that the cardinal had abused boys and young seminarians. A year later, Francis defrocked McCarrick, but Vigano — who was interviewed several times by various Catholic news outlets — alleged that the pope had been aware of the sexual misconduct and even eased restrictions on McCarrick’s ministry.
A Vatican probe released in November 2020 largely exonerated Francis, placing the blame on Pope John Paul II and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, for McCarrick’s ascent up the ranks until he became cardinal of Washington, D.C.
Francis, who was hospitalized for 10 days this past July after intestinal surgery, has previously expressed frustration over news organizations who have criticized his papacy.
But not since the days when Donald Trump was in the White House have we seen a leader with such power and influence lash out at a specific news outlet so directly. Trump did so — most often at the expense of CNN and newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post — with regularity during news conferences and on Twitter during his presidency.
Reaction across Catholic media was swift and predictable. America, a Jesuit magazine in the U.S., reported that EWTN and its associated publications, the National Catholic Register and Catholic News Agency, along with 500 radio affiliates, have “been highly critical of Pope Francis” over the years. The progressive magazine noted:
The National Catholic Register was one of two outlets that published the former nuncio to the United States and QAnon conspiracy theorist Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s explosive 2018 ‘testimony’ calling on the pope to resign. Raymond Arroyo, the host of EWTN’s ‘The World Over,’ has interviewed many of Pope Francis’ most fervent critics, including Archbishop Viganò, Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Cardinal Raymond Burke.
On the conservative side of the Catholic news world, The Pillar penned an editorial hours after the remarks were made public highlighting the polarization that is taking place both politically and doctrinally among American Catholics.
CONTINUE READING: “Pope Francis Lashes Out At Criticism From The Catholic Press, Calls It 'Work Of The Devil',” by Clemente Lisi at Religion Unplugged.
FIRST IMAGE: Image from the book cover of “Pope Francis and His Critics” by James J. Bacik.