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Time cover story rehashes old complaints against Pope Benedict

CWN - June 04, 2010

A cover story in Time magazine renews the effort to saddle Pope Benedict XVI with the blame for the worldwide sex-abuse scandal. The Time essay itself covers no new ground and has no real merit, but it does provoke a lively response from George Weigel, who notes:

The lengthy essay inside breaks no news; it recycles several lame charges against Benedict XVI that have been flatly denied or effectively rebutted; and it indulges an adolescent literary style…that makes one year and pine for the days of Henry Luce.

Weigel's analysis is valuable insofar as he corrects Time's errors on matters such as the interpretation of Vatican II and the authority of the papacy-- issues that are commonly mishandled in the secular media. Weigel is wrong, however, when he says: "It's not easy to understand the decision of Time's editors to run the magazine's current cover story." Actually it's quite easy to understand. The editors are evidently guided not by an urge to convey the news accurately but by a desire to advance the campaign against the Pope.

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  • Posted by: rosalia1402 - Jun. 06, 2010 10:02 PM ET USA

    Regarding the cover and story in Time. They left the face off the bishop on the cover but it was meant, of course, to be the Pope's. It was so offensive and obvious in its nefarious need to further damage the Church and the Holy Father, that I sent it back to Time with the heading, "what!" You don't have the guts to put the Imam who backed the Ft. Hood massacre and other crimes on your cover." And told them to cancel my subcription now. Enough is enough.

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