Christian Attitudes

Link: http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=40840&eng=y

Remember the recent row between the Vatican and Israel? It appears that the Vatican media is part of the problem. In the above article, scroll down to the section entitled: “But the Vatican media are still out of control”. It tells us that: “One area in which great disorder still reigns at the Vatican is in the field of information”

There are problems surrounding the Vatican press officer.

In an interview last October 16 Joaquín Navarro-Valls, director of the Vatican press office since 1984, recalled that it was John Paul II who asked him to help “resolve the communication problems.” But Navarro doesn’t have the same kind of agreement with the new pope. And things are worsening between him and the secretariat of state, upon which the press office formally depends. At the end of August, Navarro and cardinal Angelo Sodano even quarreled publicly, each blaming the other for a declaration that had created serious problems between the Holy See and Israel.

More problems with the Vatican newspaper, which has published some deeply prejudiced articles about Israel.

The newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano” is also out of control. Rather than representing the official line of the Holy See, it reflects the humors of its director, Mario Agnes, and of his influential friends in the curia, with cardinal Crescenzio Sepe first among them. Anti-Israeli and pacifist to an extreme, “L’Osservatore Romano” has on a number of occasions forced the secretariat of state to run for cover.

An example of the behaviour of this newspaper during the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethehem here: Interview with former Israeli Ambassador to Vatican

L’Osservatore Romano, for example, the official Vatican newspaper, regularly referred to the standoff as an Israeli “siege,” even accusing the Israelis of trying to “exterminate” the Palestinian people. The paper falsely reported, Lamdan charged, that the Israelis had killed a Catholic priest and injured a group of Brigittine nuns. The paper ran photos showing Israeli soldiers “in the worst possible light,” Lamdan said. At one point, Jewish leaders accused L’Osservatore of anti-Semitism.

Then there is Vatican Radio and also the Pontifical Council for Social Communications…

Many expect Benedict XVI to bring order to this confusion. In the meantime, he’s trying to shelter himself from it the best he can

It seems as though the Vatican communications departments need a good shake-up.