I get so irritated by the ignorance so many in
the American media display when it comes to coverage of religion. This
morning on the way into work, I heard NPR’s Bob Edwards conduct an interview
with John Allen, National
Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent, on the subject of the
Pope naming 31 new cardinals. Edwards started out by repeating the hoariest
cliche of American reporting on the papacy: that John Paul has spent his
papacy naming nothing but conservatives to the cardinalate. Allen, who
writes for a liberal Catholic paper, but who is well-informed and
honest, politely said that this current crop of cardinals
contains strong conservatives, as well as “center-left” figures. There’s a
lot more diversity among the cardinals than most people think, he said. Then
NPR’s Edwards repeated the second-hoariest cliche of US reporting on Vatican
affairs: that the Holy See did [X.] because John Paul is old and frail and
is going to die soon. Allen responded that the truth is more mundane: the
Church needs more cardinals of voting age before the next conclave, it was
due for a new consistory, and Rome decided to go ahead and have the
consistory in October, when all the world’s cardinals are going to be there
for John Paul’s 25th anniversary, rather than have them all come back early
next year.