Dear Suzanne:

The first thing to remember is that the media are a bunch of idiots. The media routinely makes him proper attributions and distorts news that, for the Vatican. It is like they have been brainwashed to misinterpret anything coming from the Vatican.

The document in question does not come for the Pope, it has no binding nature, but is the opinion of Cardinal Turkson, Prefect of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

The media knows better. A report from one of the papal councils is no different than the Secretary of Agriculture reporting to the President. He the Curial councils are advisory councils to the Pope. Unless Council report is cosigned by the Pope, or the Pope affirms the report and some other way, such reports are not "from the Vatican." Rather, they are from a Curial Office to the Pope for consideration.

Of course some will argue that because the Cardinal Prefect works in the Vatican and is employee of the Vatican and thus reports can say, "from the Vatican." That is disingenuous.

The media doesn't seem to take this approach in other settings. For example, when reporters say, "from the White House," it is saying that the President affirms the report. When reporters say, "an official from the White House," it is telling us that some other person besides the President has given information to the media.

The way the Vatican is perceived by the public is not the same way that the public sees the White House. Thus, when reporters say "the Vatican" the implication is that the Pope is the one who wrote the report or have signed the report.

To put it bluntly, a report from one of the Curial offices is meaningless and lest Pope ratifies it. Such reports have no weight nor are they binding upon the faithful. The only legislator in the Vatican is the Pope.

In history we have seen Cabinet Officers in the United States advise and prepare reports to the President that are screwy. For example, back in the 80s a Presidential adviser presented a report to the President on how our population could survive a nuclear war. With only 30 min. until impact this loony tune adviser suggested that all we need to survive is for the people to dig a hole their backyard, place a door over the hole, and then placed dirt on top of that. I suppose grandma is one to put the dirt on top of the door and then go die; she's old anyway. Then the person or persons in the hole must somehow survive for several weeks.

This is one of the most idiotic plans that I've ever seen. When the media reported this plan they correctly identified the author and did not make any implication that this plan was actually the President's.

But when it comes to the Vatican, media seems to lose its senses.

I think Michael O'Brien's article is a good one in that it points out the Cardinal's taking the words of the Pope out of context and misinterpreting them to support the Council's opinion. This is in addition to the typical distortions of the media to make a mountain out of molehill.

Bottomline: This report is not "from the Vatican." It is report of the a Curial officer advising the Pope. That is all it is.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary