not with the program

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 12, 2010

 Pope offers condolences to Poland, dodges scandal

That's the headline on an AP story about the Holy Father's public statement of condolences for the airplane crash that killed Poland's President Lech Kaczynski. What was noteworthy about the Pope's brief message, AP tells us, is that he did not speak about the sex-abuse scandal.

It's sometimes difficult to strike the right note in a message of sympathy. But it's tough to see how this particular statement-- about a tragic plane crash-- could have been improved by a reference to the sex scandal. Well, no doubt AP would have liked it better.

A week earlier AP had noticed that in his Easter Sunday proclamation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Pontiff did not mention the sex-abuse scandal. 

Imagine! The effrontery of the man! He takes his cues from the Gospel and from the liturgical season, rather than from the media headlines.