A much-needed response to the CNN Report

If you watched any of the CNN Report, "What the Pope Knew," then you know that a clear-headed and truthful response is in order. Of course, don't expect to see that on CNN. Thankfully, OSV's publisher Greg Erlandson has a great post on this topic over at our other blog, Pope Benedict XVI and the Abuse Crisis:

By Greg Erlandson

The CNN Report, “What the Pope Knew,” was as bad as the sneak previews suggested. It was a messy patchwork of ominous music, endless photos of a solemn Pope Benedict, one-sided commentary and truly sad interviews with victims who recounted shameful incidents of abuse and then were coaxed to link them to Pope Benedict.

If mega-lawyer Jeffrey Anderson should have gotten co-authorship rights for his role in The New York Times exposes of last March (as Ken Woodward opined), then he should have been listed as a producer on this show. His documents, his clients and his agenda dominated: And that agenda is simply to lay the groundwork for a legal case against the Vatican.

The CNN special report, reported with particular unctuousness by Gary Tuchman, stitched together several reports of priest abusers to infer that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was somehow guilty of obstruction of justice. At each turn in the story, CNN avoided shedding real light on the incidents, but instead used generalizations and innuendo to suggest that Ratzinger was insensitive to the plight of the victims. For editorial commentary, the report relied heavily on independent journalist David Gibson. Unfortunately, even though Gibson is first quoted as saying that Cardinal Ratzinger is neither hero nor villain, in the rest of the show he seems to tilt rather decisively to the latter. Continue reading...