WhatFinger


Messaging the Vatican:

Clear Communication is EVERYTHING



IF Ellen Carmichael, writing for the National Review, is right about the Pope never having declared Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas “an angel of peace”, is correct; that the context of the pontiff’s words is quite different when one reads the English version of what he really said, then the Vatican needs to bone up on communication.
In a world where lies and propaganda masquerade freely as truth, communication is everything. “It’s astonishing that international news sources have continued to print false information, even after the pope’s remarks were made available in English. (National Review, May 17, 2015) It should be even more astonishing that the Italian newspaper La Stampa is the only one that purportedly got the Pope’s words right.
“Sunday morning, Americans awakened to headlines proclaiming that Pope Francis had called Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas “an angel of peace” during an event at the Vatican the day before. News organizations gleefully printed this claim across newspapers and news sites around the globe. Agence France-Presse’s headline: “Pope meets ‘angel of peace’ Abbas after treaty announcement.” BBC: “Pope Francis calls Palestinians’ Abbas ‘angel of peace.’” The New York Times: “In Vatican, Abbas Is Praised as ‘Angel of Peace.’” Even Jonathan S. Tobin of Commentary magazine published a piece entitled, “Sorry, Your Holiness, But Abbas Is No Angel.” (National Review) “Of course, this reveals the eagerness of some in the media to paint His Holiness as some valiant advocate for the progressive cause, and thus, an ally of Palestine over Israel. If the Pope indeed called Abbas an angel, it would, in their eyes, be yet another example of his putting conservative Catholics, many of whom are likely to be pro-Israel, in their place; progressives have wrongly portrayed the pope as taking a progressive stance on other issues about which they care deeply. To them, it’s about time that traditional Catholics get with the program, and, thankfully, Pope Francis is going to set them straight. “
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Question: Why does the Vatican let them away with it?

There is no doubt that the cunning agents of the über active lib-left are waiting to twist every word spoken by Pope Francis to make it appear that he is one of them, or just another lie-spouting ‘progressive’. Question: Why does the Vatican let them away with it? The solution to what Pope Francis really said could be as sweet and simple as the cooing of the doves in the nooks and crannies of St. Peter’s Square: Don’t wait for La Stampa. Release the English version of the pontiff’s words at the same time he is holding forth in Italian. In sarcastic layman’s terms: “Speaka da English”. Coming up with Killing the Messenger-type messages after the words “Angel of Peace” are out there walking on stilts over the World Wide Web isn’t going to cut it, but only provide fodder for the lib-left enemy camp: the smear specialist mainstream media. Even though the ambiguity that comes with statements of leaders, both political and religious is as prolific as the confetti thrown at brides and grooms, (mercifully) most of whom who still leave wedding nuptials as Mr. and Mrs, the Vatican should have zero tolerance for ambiguity.
“Second, because the media are determined to politicize every moment of every day, they view in a political light everything Pope Francis does. Catholics believe that God loathes violence and loves peace. These are ideals that exist irrespective of changing geopolitical landscapes. As the head of the Catholic Church (and consequently, the faith leader of the largest single religious denomination, representing 1.2 billion people worldwide), Pope Francis has an obligation to use his platform in the pursuit of peace. His encouraging words to world leaders, including Abbas, are meant to achieve these ends.  (National Review) “But that doesn’t mean the Church remains silent in the face of evil. While President Obama, for instance, refuses to call the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a “genocide,” Pope Francis stood up to Turkish leaders by insisting that the slaughter of these Christians a century ago was, indeed, “genocide.” As ISIS continues to massacre countless Christians in the Middle East, Pope Francis has called for the United Nations to mobilize troops to fight the jihadist network — a particularly striking statement given that the Catholic Church is often reluctant to endorse military conflict. It’s noteworthy that neither of these positions is strongly supported by progressives. “
Neither Pope Francis nor anyone else should hold their proverbial breath waiting for the world’s largest bureaucracy known as the United Nations “to mobilize troops to fight the jihadist network”. There have been no UN, US or European boots on the ground with ISIS on the rampage from the get-go. According to Ms. Carmichael, “There are real geopolitical consequences for such shoddy reporting, and those in the media who misrepresented the Holy See’s comments should be held to account. It’s time for a retraction and an apology.” Before killing off the messenger, the Vatican should speed up the process of delivering the pontiff’s words in English. Doing anything else allows the anti-Catholic mainstream media a field day in what they definitely call “Bergoglio Balderdash".


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Judi McLeod -- Bio and Archives -- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

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