The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops assembled in Baltimore two weeks ago to elect a new president. Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services, tasked with overseeing Catholic ministries to members of the U.S. armed forces, was elected to lead the USCCB.
The 70-year-old archbishop won election to a three-year term on Nov. 15 after emerging victorious from a field of 10 candidates. What Broglio’s election means for the church, our national politics and for everyday Catholics depends on whom you ask.
Certainly, news coverage of Broglio’s election seemed to focus on the priorities of the media organization’s own political priorities rather than impartial, fact-based reporting that included the church’s own positions on an array of subjects Broglio will have to deal with in his term.
As we say here at GetReligion: Politics is real. Religion? Not so much.
The New York Times framed their coverage under the headline, “U.S. Catholic Bishops Elect Leaders for Anti-Abortion Fight.” This is how their story opened:
BALTIMORE — A week after bruising losses for anti-abortion forces in the midterm elections, America’s Roman Catholic bishops rededicated themselves to ending abortion and elected a slate of new leaders to support that goal during their annual meeting. …
The job ahead is “perhaps even more massive than we thought,” said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, who has chaired the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “We have to engage in this with mind and heart and soul.”
The bishops chose Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who leads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, as their new president. Archbishop Lori, the runner-up for the presidency, will serve as vice president. Both men have taken strong positions against abortion and are expected to continue the conservative leanings of the hierarchy on an array of social issues.
Archbishop Broglio supported religious exemptions for military service members who did not want to receive the Covid-19 vaccine “if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience.” The Vatican had approved of the vaccines, but some Catholics and others opposed to abortion asked for religious exemptions because of the use of stem cells derived from aborted fetuses to develop some vaccines.
He has previously suggested that homosexuality was to blame for the church’s sexual abuse crisis, though studies have found no connection between homosexuality and child abuse.
There’s a lot to unpack there, but the news story managed to get the words abortion, vaccines and homosexuality in the first five paragraphs. Broglio is made out to be some deranged right-wing politician. Clearly, the Times’ focus on politics salutes the beliefs of most of its faithful readers.
What about the Catholic Catechism? Alas, there is nothing in this alleged news story about the ink-on-paper (and websites, too) church teachings about the protection of life from conception to natural death.
Instead, it makes it appear the bishops are acting as rogue actors — clashing with both the Vatican and American Catholics — by supporting a national abortion ban, which means aligning with cultural conservatives in the Republican Party and groups such as Democrats for Life.
Once again, these issues are seen through a political lens — period. Doctrine has nothing to do with Catholic life.
The issue of COVID-19 vaccines and homosexuality as a possible connection to the clergy sex-abuse scandal are mentioned, but never elaborated on. They are meant to make Broglio appear extreme compared to most American Catholics. As always, it helps to seek statistics on the beliefs of frequent Mass attenders, as opposed to “American Catholics” in general.
The Associated Press took a more neutral tone. The story — under the headline “U.S. Catholic bishops elect Timothy Broglio as new president” — began this way:
BALTIMORE — Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services, who oversees Catholic ministries to the U.S. armed forces, was elected … as the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Broglio, 70, was elected to a three-year term from a field of 10 candidates. He will succeed Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, who assumed the post in 2019.
The archbishop of Baltimore, William Lori, was elected as the conference’s new vice president.
Usually the election of a new USCCB leaders is a formality, with the bishops elevating the conference’s vice president to the post. But this year’s election was wide open because the incumbent VP — Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron — will turn 75 soon, making him ineligible to serve.
The 10 candidates ranged from the relatively moderate Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, a staunch conservative. Cordileone made headlines this year by barring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Franciscan, from receiving Communion in the archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.
The candidates were nominated by their fellow bishops, who bypassed several of their colleagues who have been elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis.
The second half of the story features two people — one on the Catholic doctrinal left and the other of the right — to flush out the issues.
While Broglio was not considered as hardline a conservative as a few other candidates, his election was not welcomed by some left-of-center Catholics who empathize with Pope Francis in his occasional conflicts with the U.S. bishops.
“I’m disappointed Catholic bishops chose a new president who has a history of being a culture warrior,” said John Gehring, Catholic program director at a Washington-based clergy network called Faith in Public Life. “Even as Pope Francis offers a better path forward for the church, too many American bishops double down on old strategies that have failed to engage and energize the faithful.”
The bishops’ annual fall meeting will conclude its public sessions on Wednesday. It is the bishops’ first gathering since the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the Roe v. Wade decision which had found a constitutional right to abortion and returned the question of legal abortion to the states.
Lori, chairman of the bishops Committee on Pro-life Activities, acknowledged that many Catholics favor legalized access to abortion.
“The demise of Roe is a great victory, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory if we fail to win in the minds and hearts, first and foremost of our fellow Catholics,” said Lori, who was elected vice president of the bishops’ conference.
The story was picked up by dozens of print and online news sites, including The Washington Post on its website. The AP story did feature more biographical information on Broglio and quotes from him. It also mentioned abortion, homosexuality and vaccines — but did so in a much fairer way and by providing context.
Religion News Service, one of the biggest news organizations that cover religion, had on the eve of the vote tried to handicap the field. The result was a tone-deaf look at the prelates seeking the USCCB presidency as if the only thing that matters is politics. Was this news or analysis? As is often the case, it’s hard to tell.
The section on Broglio read as follows:
While not a hardline right-wing crusader, Broglio, who lost in a runoff to Gomez in 2019, has staked out some conservative positions. If he wins, he could be seen as something of a continuation of Gomez’ leadership.
Last October, Broglio defended the use of religious waivers for COVID-19 vaccines for his Catholic charges in the military, setting himself apart from even some fellow conservatives who rejected the use of waivers.
In 2013, he issued rules that not only prevented Catholic chaplains from being forced to bless or witness a same-sex marriage, but barred them from participating in funerals that could “give the impression that the church approves of same sex ‘marital’ relationships.”
Broglio has shown himself willing to challenge liberal politicians: In 2011, he published a public letter urging then-President Barack Obama’s administration to drop its legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The bottom line: None of Broglio’s positions are in contrast with centuries of Catholic teachings on morality and sex. Also, there are certainly inconsistencies with selected public comments by Pope Francis on some of the issues RNS mentioned above, but the Vatican often leaves such papal statements out there without elaborating further. It’s easy to find razor-sharp comments by Pope Francis opposing abortion — period.
RNS coverage often masquerades as news but should really be labeled either “analysis” or even “opinion” because of the way some of its reporters handle these kinds of topics The piece mentioned above is a prime example of this type of analysis journalism.
The Catholic press, meanwhile, also saw Broglio’s election in different ways. The National Catholic Reporter, a newspaper on the doctrinal left, reported the election this way:
The U.S. Catholic bishops' conference on Nov. 15 elected Archbishop Timothy Broglio, a former Vatican diplomat who has supported religious exemptions for coronavirus vaccines and has blamed gay priests for the clergy abuse crisis, as their new president.
Broglio, who as the archbishop for the Military Services is essentially the nation's chief Catholic chaplain, garnered 138 votes on the third round of voting at the bishops' plenary assembly in Baltimore. He needed 119 votes, a majority of the 237 total votes cast.
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, who finished second in the presidential voting, was elected vice president in a separate round of voting.
Broglio, 70, has served in his current role since 2008. As a Vatican diplomat, Broglio served as the Vatican's ambassador to the Dominican Republic and its delegate to Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2008.
In the 1990s, Broglio served as private secretary for the late Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state under Pope John Paul II who was a staunch promoter and defender of then-Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the serial sexual abuser and founder of the once-powerful Legionaries of Christ religious order.
In 2018, Broglio supported a U.S. Air Force chaplain who in a homily blamed "effeminate" gay priests for clergy sex abuse. In an emailed response to a woman who complained about the priest's homily, Broglio said there was "no question that the crisis of sexual abuse by priests in the USA is directly related to homosexuality."
Spot any doctrinal patterns there?
Meanwhile, on the doctrinal right, the National Catholic Register, noted:
BALTIMORE, Md. — Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was elected Tuesday to head the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for the next three years in a vote of 138-99.
Archbishop Broglio will be taking the role after serving for three years as secretary of the conference.
Archbishop Broglio was viewed as a likely candidate for the role after he was nearly elected to serve as vice president for the USCCB in 2019 but lost a runoff election to Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron. The USCCB vice president usually goes on to serve in the role of president, but Archbishop Vigneron is ineligible for the role of president due to the fact that he would reach the retirement age of 75 before the term expires in 2025.
The new president serves a three-year term. Already, several known, high-profile challenges await Archbishop Broglio. These include the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome Oct. 4-29, 2023; a national eucharistic congress in Indianapolis in June 2024, the synod’s concluding session in October 2024, and the U.S. presidential election in November 2024.
Archbishop Broglio, 70, was born in 1951 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where he attended St. Ignatius High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in the classics from Boston College and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Notice the difference?
The emphasis is totally different in both these news stories. The National Catholic Reporter stressed Broglio’s indirect connections to the Legionaries of Christ. The National Catholic Register, on the other hand, stuck primarily to biographical information to open its story.
They do put some dates out there that journalists will need to note in their planners, such as the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 2023 and a national eucharistic congress in Indianapolis in June 2024.
Both newspapers revealed their preferences further on their editorial pages. The National Catholic Reporter called Broglio’s election “a mistake” and him as a “culture warrior.” Here are the key passages:
After losing the presidential vote, Lori was elected vice president of the conference, so there was some hope that he may be a moderating influence on the executive committee. But on the morning of the meeting's second day, elections for other positions indicated a near sweep for conservative candidates. Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City defeated Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin for secretary. New committee chairs included Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois; and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia.
Clearly a majority in the body of bishops still prefer a culture warrior mentality, despite the lack of effectiveness of such a strategy in the church and society.
Lori's address as pro-life chair was titled, "Presentation on Life Issues and Opportunities Following the Dobbs Decision"—just days after the U.S. midterm elections in which all anti-abortion initiatives failed, in both blue and red states, despite massive spending on the part of dioceses in those states.
Meanwhile, Mass attendance is down at parishes and large numbers of young people are still heading for the exits. Despite Pope Francis' attempts to be a more welcoming church, the U.S. bishops seem to be stuck in the same old way of doing things.
Instead, the National Catholic Register, lauded Broglio’s election. Here’s why and what they said:
But permitting long-festering divisions in the conference to come to light allowed the bishops, under Archbishop Gomez’s leadership, to address them. Measures like holding closed-door sessions at the conference’s general assembly, crafting a Eucharistic coherence document that received near-unanimous approval, and even, as we saw last week in Baltimore, holding fraternal dialogues around circular tables have all fostered a greater sense of brotherhood among the U.S. bishops.
Now, in electing Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services as their next USCCB president, the bishops have chosen a successor to Archbishop Gomez who is distinctly suited to build upon these renewed foundations of episcopal unity.
Much is being made about Archbishop Broglio’s experience as a member of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, and rightfully so. In that capacity, Archbishop Broglio learned and employed the subtle art of strategic dialogue, maintaining relations while pursuing key objectives. Additionally, his recent experience as secretary of the USCCB likely yielded a deep familiarity with the way the conference works and how it can be led effectively.
Geography also matters. As archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, with headquarters located less than a mile from the USCCB in Washington, D.C., Archbishop Broglio is in a position to exercise more direct oversight over conference staff, ensuring that the various focus areas and objectives of the USCCB work hand in hand, not at cross-purposes. Additionally, his role as pastor of Catholics in the U.S. military spread out across the country (and the world) gives Archbishop Broglio the opportunity to travel to different dioceses, learning more about the situation in different local Churches, and forging relationships with his brother bishops.
Here is a question to ponder: Does coverage in elite mainstream news outlets sound like the Catholic left or the Catholic right? Would it be possible for mainstream journalists to cover both sides of these debates?
As Broglio’s election highlights, a majority of U.S. bishops may be coalescing in an effort to combat what they see increased secularism in American society. At the same time, the mainstream and religious press have staked out their positions and made their preferences known.
The next three years — two of which run at the same time as President Joe Biden’s time in the White House and during the 2024 elections — could be even more volatile than the previous under Gomez.
Reading a cross-section of coverage from a variety of sources will tell you a lot about what’s happening and what’s important to the various consistencies within American Catholicism and the broader religious and political life of Americans.
FIRST IMAGE: A photo of Archbishop Timothy Broglio via Wikipedia Commons.