One of the best MSM pieces on Pope Benedict XVI...

...I've read in recent weeks has been written by Michael Paulson for today's edition of The Boston Globe. It has many of the standard points, but Paulson digs deeper and comes up with some solid, balanced observations and several excellent quotes (yes, a few from Ignatius Press folks). Read it here.

Comments

[Thomas]

I read that article in my morning paper today. I'm a bit less impressed with it than you, Carl. I'll give it a second look though. Maybe I'm just unfairly swayed because of my general opinion of Michael Paulson.

Related funny/irritating story, he was interviewed on the local Fox station this week. He of coursed carried the water for the dinosaurs of the 1960s. And in a laugh-out-loud moment of fair and balanced journalism the chick interviewing him asked if the Church has actually changed after the abuse crisis. Paulson said it was a mixed bag, but that unfortunately it didn't change for those who would like to see a difference in "who can become a priest." He then informed us that he didn't see such a change coming "in the near future." To which the newsbabe said, "That's too bad."

Yup, unbiased interview there folks. It's too bad the Church won't fall into heresy by "ordaining" priestesses. Ironically, the woman in question is Greek, and last I checked her people didn't have priestesses either.

[Carl Olson]

I may be going a bit soft on the article since the bar has been set so low. But I was glad to see that the sought out good people to interview, a refreshing change. And I thought he made a decent attempt at countering the silly stereotypes about the Pope. As I say, the bar has been set so low (by USA TODAY, for one), that anything above it is a step in the right direction.

[Augustine II]

"American Catholics." "American Catholicism."

No. Catholics in America. Catholicism in America.

[Thomas]

Looking at it again, Carl, I will at least give credit for some of the people quoted. At the very least he didn't trot out the likes of Voice of the Faithful, SNAP, Thomas Groome (some of the local darlings of the Globe), etc.

Still not impressed with the general tone though.

I love this part:

"Like John Paul II, he opposed the Iraq war and has expressed concerns about abortion, divorce, birth control, capital punishment, and the increasing tolerance of same-sex relationships in the United States."

So the Holy Father "opposed" the Iraq War but merely "expressed concerns" about abortion, divorce, birth control, capital punishment and homosexual "marriage."

But I agree with you, the bar has certainly been set low. If an article isn't overtly hostile then its praiseworthy. I suppose we'd all go into an ecstasy if a reporter actually wrote an article that talked about the hopeful message of the Holy Father and the Church without couching it in the usual controversialist terms of the MSM.

[joe]

"The trip is expected to draw massive media attention, and Benedict's every event and utterance will be analyzed as Americans try to figure out what to make of him."

Every event and utterance as parsed by the media, that is. It doesn't matter what he says or where he goes; what matters is what the media reports, such as his 'conspicuous avoidance of Boston."

[Ed Peters]

Augustine II. Not that I don't see your point, but I think it's easy to exaggerate its significance.

[LJ]

All in all, I would agree with you Carl. By MSM standards the piece is fair and balanced. The real telling fact is that you and the rest of us are talking about it. The article says nothing of earth shaking importance but because it is so rare that the knives have been put away, we notice.