With Pope Benedict XVI in Germany with the kids of the world for World Youth Day, what a great time to start a blog devoted to Catholicism (and other stuff)! The media are so looking for him to be a disappointment. Not just our media, mind you. I recently returned from Ireland and one of the last articles I read in the Irish Times--infected with a bias virus as virulent as that plaguing The New York Times--one of those last articles I read was on the "lackluster" performance of B16. Based on what, I don't know, and the Irish Times didn't elaborate. What I've seen these past two days on television (EWTN carries it live with frequent encores) is a pontiff enthusiastically received by hundreds of thousands of young people. Yet, here in the US, the major media seem intent on basically ignoring the story. People forget, the media tended to ignore and disparage JPII the Great as well during the last ten years of his pontificate. That didn't stop him from being effective. The secular world is trying very hard to forget the JPII Funeral Event earlier this year. They see all the outpouring of faith and emotion around that event as an anomaly and they yearn for a return to secular cynicism. Their negative stories and attempts to unfavorably compare the present Pope with the last one are evidence of this attempt. By Monday, we'll know whether B16 one ups the media and forges ties with Catholic youth that will help the Gospel spread throughout the world.
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