comparative headlines

By ( articles ) | May 10, 2010

When one influential cardinal openly criticizes another, that's a legitimate headline story. The question is what the headline should say.

The facts are not in dispute. The Archbishop of Vienna criticized the cardinal who was the #2 man at the Vatican, the Secretary of State, until Pope Benedict replaced him.  

So if you wanted to be accurate, you'd write a headline something like this:

Former ranking Vatican official mishandled abuse complaints, says Archbishop of Vienna

Then again, if you wanted to take a cheap shot at the Pope, implying that he was ultimately responsible (even though the story clearly indicated otherwise), you might use this:

Archbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope’s closest aides of abuse cover-up