John Allen defends L'Osservatore Romano

November 24, 2010

Unlike CWN editor Phil Lawler, John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter thinks that it would be a major mistake to fire Gian Maria Vian, the editor of L’Osservatore Romano.

Allen argues that the Vatican newspaper has flourished under Vian’s direction. He discloses that L’Osservatore Romano had authorization for its early publication of an excerpt from the Pope’s new book. (“(If you want to be mad at somebody over the timing, try the Vatican Publishing House,” Allen suggests.) He notes that critics of L’Osservatore Romano could be motivated by “other forces, including jealousy, politics, and dated expectations of how the Vatican paper ought to behave.” And he argues that the uproar about the Pope’s statements would have occurred regardless of how the fateful words first came to public attention:

My experience is that anytime you put the words “pope,” “condoms,” and “AIDS” into the same sentence, many secular news outlets will go nuts no matter what the context might be.

 

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Further information:

• In defense of L’Osservatore Romano (National Catholic Reporter)
• The Vatican newspaper has betrayed the Pope (Catholic Culture, 11/22)