Pope Francis spent three historic days in the Middle East trying to bring Christians, Jews, and Muslims together, and on the plane ride home he fielded 11 questions on nine issues. Two dealt with his trip: there was one question on Jewish-Muslim relations, and one on the status of Jerusalem. But there were three on sexual issues: priestly sexual abuse, celibacy, and divorced and remarried Catholics.
It’s actually worse than this. On the “Today Show” the following day, only two issues were discussed: sexual abuse and celibacy. In Nicole Winfield’s AP story on the subject, about half the article was on sexual abuse; in a later version, this was the only issue covered. Almost all of CNN’s coverage was on sexual abuse. John Allen of the Boston Globe covered many topics, but most of his reporting was on sexual abuse. The Boston Herald showed no interest in anything but sexual abuse.
In England, the Guardian only discussed sexual abuse and celibacy. Almost all the coverage by the BBC was on sexual abuse. This subject dominated the coverage in the Daily Mail.
There is no mystery here. The big media lean left, and what interests them is pressuring the Catholic Church to change its teachings on sexuality. Their obsession with priestly sexual abuse, which as a problem is mostly a non-starter these days, is a function of their desire to discredit the Catholic Church’s moral authority.
It’s too bad that Pope Francis did not take the time to ask any of these reporters to explain their disinterest in his critically important trip. He might then ask them to explain their obsession with matters sexual. Unless the reporters are called out on this issue, the media circus will never end.
