Catholic Culture Trusted Commentary
Catholic Culture Trusted Commentary

Spin doctor, heal yourself

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 29, 2019

Andrea Tornielli, the new spin doctor for the Vatican’s communications team, has harsh words for some Catholic media outlets. Cindy Wooden of CNS captures the gist of Torniell’s complaint:

The rise of media that call themselves Catholic but seem to exist only to judge others is less about criticizing Pope Francis and more about the misguided notion that to affirm one's own orthodoxy, one must find someone to label a heretic, said a Vatican communications official.

Andrea Tornielli, the new editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, was commenting on Pope Francis' remarks Jan. 24 to the bishops of Central America about Catholics losing compassion.

Let me see if I have this straight: There are media outlets that are wrong to call themselves Catholic because they criticize others who are wrong to call themselves Catholic?

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

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