From William A. Donohue’s Catalyst Magazine piece “Pope’s
Visit Ripe For Propaganda”
“… The way the media exploit Pope Francis is varied, but
there are some common features. Their
four favorite propaganda tricks are to (a) take part of what he has said and
present it as if it were accurate (b) attribute to him positions he has not taken
(c) press Catholic leaders to agree with these misrepresented views, and (d)
give legitimacy to groups that claim to be Catholic but are not …”
By example, Donohue explains the famous “who am I to judge” “quote”
(yes, I put quote in quotes).
“… The pope said that a preliminary probe of the [homosexual]
priest [who had been alleged of breaking a vow of celibacy] turned up
nothing. He then said that there was a
difference between being gay, which was not a problem, and belonging to a gay
lobby, which was.
The exchange with the reporter ended with the pope’s famous
quote: ‘If someone is gay and is
searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?’ Notice the last word [‘him’] …”
Pope Francis articulated nothing new, nothing that his predecessors
would have found amazing. Donohue
continues – “… no pope has ever condemned someone for being a homosexual, and
the Catholic Catechism has never said otherwise …
… The first propaganda weapon in the media arsenal is to
shorten the pope’s remark to, ‘Whom am I to judge?’ They conveniently leave out his two conditions:
(a) that the person search for the Lord and (b) that he be of good will. By taking his remarks out of context, they intentionally
mislead the public. Leaving out the last
word, ‘him,’ allows them to play their second trick.
The second propaganda ploy is to say that the pope’s words were
invoked to justify homosexuality. That
is a lie. The pope was speaking about
sexual orientation, not sodomy. But how
is the reader to know this when the deliberately delete ‘him’? Doing so deflects attention from a person,
thus enabling them to argue that the pope was speaking about conduct.
The third propaganda tool is to pressure Catholic leaders
into falling in line with what the pope allegedly said. This is their ‘Catch 22’ game: either agree with the pope that it is wrong to
be judgmental about homosexuality, or explain why the Holy Father is wrong …
The fourth propaganda technique is to take groups that are no
more Catholic than the Catholic League is Buddhist, and then pass them off as
though they were authentically Catholic.
…
Watch out for surveys that report dissatisfaction with
Church teachings on a variety of subjects.
If non-Catholics are included in the poll, why should we care? If Catholics who do not practice the faith
are included, why should we care? Would
these same pollsters ask Catholics what they think about the way Orthodox Jews,
or Muslims, treat [Jewish or Muslim] women?
Would Jews or Muslims who do not practice their religion be included in
a survey on religious members of their community?”
