the Media and Pope Benedict XVI

I guess we cannot expect the media to report accurately about the Catholic church since they are basically very anti Catholic. Problem being, of course, that few people realize how much the media lies. (Ironically, they question the Bible but believe the media like Scripture).

Recent stories included one about Pope Benedict XVI lifting the ex-communication from 4 schismatic Bishops, one of whom is a "holocaust denier". The media reported that (especially about the holocaust denier) with glee - it made front page news. They added that the Jewish Community was shocked and upset at this action and intimated that the Bishops had been restored to the status of full Bishops.

But as usual, only part of the story was reported.

First of all, the formerly exCommunicated Bishops do NOT have any Bishop duties or even priestly facilities (meaning they cannot celebrate Mass, do confession etc). They simply now, can receive Communion when they go to church (and also can go to Confession). This is merely the start of a long dialog between the Pope and these Bishops which may or may not end up in reinstating them as priests or Bishops.

Secondly, with reference to the Holocaust denier Bishop, the Pope and the Vatican has given him an ultimatum that if he doesn't PUBLICALLY recant those beliefs, he will be exCommunicated again.

But of course, the above was NOT reported in the media which is still buzzing about how anti Semitic this pope is.

When Pope Benedict visited the USA last time (when he went to see President Bush), he also visited a large Synagogue in Washington and gave the Rabbi there, a gift of an ancient manuscript of the Torah. This was taken from the Vatican collection and is worth so much, it's basically priceless. The Rabbi, in receiving the gift, was totally shocked... his mouth literally fell open at the generosity of this gift.

And of course, not a word about it in the mass media. I only know about it because the Pope's trip was totally covered on EWTN (the Global Catholic Network) and I saw it happen.

And in the "Vatican Section" of Youtube.com they have several speeches the Pope made, visits to Holocaust memorials and more.

Bottom line, if the media says it, it's either wrong or incomplete and very different from the real story.