when 200 > 250,000

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Nov 08, 2010

On Sunday there were about 250,000 people in and around the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, cheering for Pope Benedict. There were also about 200 homosexual demonstrators, staging a foolish “kiss-in” in an attempt to embarrass the Pope. Which group gained more media coverage?

Too easy. The gay activists, naturally. Catholics who support the Holy Father are invisible to the mainstream media; critics are visible.

Dave Pierre has made the same point. That’s not too surprising; the point is an obvious one. But Pierre also picked up on the fact that in her AP story, reporter Nicole Winfield announced that some Spanish women demonstrated, too, “to protest their second-class status in the church.” Thus it was presented to readers-- not as a complaint voiced by some protesters, but as an established fact, relayed by the reporter in her own voice--  that women are second-class Catholics. 

Over on the GetReligion site, meanwhile, Mollie noted that the Sagrada Familia cathedral is acknowledged as one of the most important architectural statements of the past century. So when newspapers could find room for just one photo of Sunday’s ceremony, what picture did they choose? The cathedral? Of course not; the “kiss-in.” 

The anti-Catholic bias is nothing new. What’s noteworthy is its increasingly blatant tone. Reporters feel less and less compunction about treating the Church simply as the “bad guy” in their stories.