More RC Mass Marketing

This is the video referenced by press release provided by @HolySeePress. pic.twitter.com/P4TJV4YsUx

— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) September 2, 2021

Propping Up Paul VI and Vatican II

Pope St. Paul VI, prophetic defender of Church teaching who led the Second Vatican Council to its close, pray for us! pic.twitter.com/qNJ1MECsNb

— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) May 29, 2021

Enrique Shaw

Misleading text. If anything Shaw was the best sort of neoliberal possible, one who lived with a sense of the noblesse oblige of the previous landed elites. If he is recognized a saint that would not be a vindication of neoliberalism or of statism.

On Saturday, with Pope Francis’ greenlight, the Catholic Church declared Enrique Shaw venerable, meaning he’s two miracles away from being declared a saint.https://t.co/C3NQvLx9Q7

— Crux (@Crux) April 26, 2021

The Latin Marketing Campaign Continues

Even on the feast of #StPatrick one might admire the virtues of #StJoseph. Click below for a recent discussion of "St. Joseph, Man of the Year" between @kathrynlopez and Fr. Peter Cameron, OP. https://t.co/fC42tYrCtW

— Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP (@FrAquinasOP) March 17, 2021

No Thanks

Lately I've had a ton of questions about abortion, Covid vaccines, and the common good. Have you? This is for you, then.

When we started @PillarCatholic, we wanted space for the kind of deep dive stuff we simply hadn't had time for. This is what we meant. https://t.co/ZUlw5hVDAu

— Ed. Condon (@canonlawyered) February 22, 2021

Tool of the WEF

As expected.

Fight misinformation by telling the truth clearly. Not by over-correcting to pessimism to “balance out” denial.

The vaccines work. They massively reduce transmission. We’re on the cusp of things getting a lot better. https://t.co/MG7zP5VV6I

— Leah Libresco Sargeant (@LeahLibresco) February 21, 2021

Pillar Following Mainstream Latin Mass Media

Promoting a certain narrative about Bergoglio.

"The idea that the pope wanted to personally shame #CardinalSarah in public over supposed ideological differences likely says more about those promoting it."https://t.co/jpHxnnS1wE

— Ed. Condon (@canonlawyered) February 20, 2021

A New Latin News Media Outlet

COMRADES!
JD and I have decided we want to continue our journalistic efforts, especially our long-form investigative work, and to keep up our podcasting together.

It is with no little excitement then that we launch today The Pillar (@PillarCatholic). https://t.co/IhvPSoHFpK

— Ed. Condon (@canonlawyered) January 4, 2021

In the first full-length episode of The Pillar Podcast, @canonlawyered and @jdflynn discuss Vatican finances, Felicity Huffman, vaccines and dissent, and Kirk Cameron.

And then there is a game.https://t.co/xBSKkMasAi

— The Pillar (@PillarCatholic) January 4, 2021

"The Monsters of Mass Media"

How should Catholics view social media and technology? @FrSteveGrunow, CEO of Word on Fire, speaks to Jesuits about the perils of artificial intelligence and the online world: https://t.co/1egro4KEKP

— Word on Fire (@WordOnFire) December 22, 2020

They Think This is an Endorsement

It is not a remarkable event for @Pontifex to receive a letter from @orbisBooks. But it is a great day when we receive a reply. See my Publisher’s Letter https://t.co/FU33ZWe59n (trans attached) pic.twitter.com/s4mNK0S3DL

— @RobertEllsberg (@RobertEllsberg) November 5, 2020

But it's the opposite. Even more of a reason to avoid Orbis titles.

Would Those Outlets Qualify for Yellow Checks?

“I do not rule out that some publications may have helped raise the guard and undertake internal cleansing initiatives." https://t.co/3VGOINiHBi via @cnalive

— Ed. Condon (@canonlawyered) November 2, 2020

Does America Magazine Get a Yellow Check?

Did the pope “endorse” civil unions? (Yes.)
Were Francis’ words mistranslated? (No.)
Is this “old news”? (Yes and no.)

Explainer from @ColleenDulle
https://t.co/MR6Opw2Y7c

— America Magazine (@americamag) October 22, 2020

Whether you agree w/ @gjpappin & @GregoryCaridi on other things or not, you should agree w/them on the need for a Yellow Check system after all the misinformation even (especially!) form Catholic news outlets during yesterday's @Pontifex #FakeNews cycle https://t.co/jLzhi3LjMA

— Artur Sebastian Rosman (@cosmostheinlost) October 22, 2020

Two Takes

Pope Francis’s declaration last month that gossip is a plague worse than Covid was met by some with derision – But three political news stories since then have added weight to his warning, says Violet Hudson https://t.co/rVgpz04fzQ

— Catholic Herald (@CatholicHerald) October 5, 2020

New @spectator Holy Smoke episode on the whiff of Watergate at the Vatican. (I met Erlichman and Colson and Francis's creepy entourage make them look like amateurs.) https://t.co/HOiDrvocMU

— Damian Thompson (@holysmoke) October 8, 2020

That's because Francis is indeed implicated in cover-ups and conspiracies. https://t.co/GfZ1cBElrf

— Damian Thompson (@holysmoke) October 8, 2020

Carl Olson on Catholic Journalism

CWR editor @carleolson talks with @IgnatiusPress' @mabrumley about Catholic media today, incivility in social media, "fake news," and more.https://t.co/TIZpBmUbaV

— Catholic World Report (@cworldreport) September 11, 2020

Bishop Barron at Work

Friends, Catholics must stop tearing each other apart online. We should be outraged by those who send virulent comments to one another, preventing actually fruitful evangelical conversation.

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://t.co/48rrqlfcUL pic.twitter.com/xTijpUUn0c

— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) July 7, 2020

.@BishopBarron's had enough & is ready to fight! Predictably, against Catholics who criticized him. Yes there are venomous comments, but +Barron has internalized the wrong message. If he's disgusted by what he sees, imagine depending on the bishops. https://t.co/vBRSQsibYv

— Creative Minority (@CMReport) July 8, 2020

Vatican II was the bomb, doncha know?

Vigano & Schneider seem to have irked the Vatican's crimina... cardinals. Tornielli has apparently been tasked with a campaign of defence of Vatican II. https://t.co/zdnEArjNdV

— Hilary White (@hilarityjane) July 2, 2020

A Glimpse Behind the Editorial Choices of CNA?

CNA’s @HannahBrockhaus has a fantastic interview with Cardinal @jesuitczerny. https://t.co/pLH25fpbpL

— JD Flynn (@jdflynn) May 17, 2020

The 18th Ce Lives

At least with respect to how the pope conducts himself in relation to the secular powers, lecturing as if he has authority over them and as if they would be listening.

CNA/CWR: Pope Francis warns of a coronavirus ‘genocide’ if economy prioritized over people

Echoing the concerns of some Catholics (R.R. Reno) and conservatives. With what competence does he have to make this judgment, and why should his opinion count more than R.R. Reno's? After all, there is no guarantee that his judgment of particular circumstances are correct, nor a guarantee that he has the gift of political prudence. There is no guarantee that he has learned moral theology well, either. These statements amount to nothing more than royal nagging.

So much of the power of the patriarch of Rome would be taken away if the news media would stop covering everything he says. If Latin news media stopped reporting on the pope, would they be able to stay in business? Would they have any reason to exist? Maybe Latin laity, if they wish to see a reform of the papacy, should stop patronizing Latin news media and give their reasons for doing so.

As for the pope's presence in social media, which is in accordance with certain claims by Rome about the office of the bishop of Rome, does social media pass on charismatic gifts? Or does it produce instead counterfeits of Christian spirituality, one of which can be identified as the cult of personality surrounding the bishop of Rome? Do the charismatic gifts instead require a face-to-face interaction that is built upon authentic witness, trust, and accountability? To know that someone is an authentic witness of Christ, we must be familiar with his character and this is possible only through our observations of his words and deeds.

Yellow Check Proposers Respond to Critics

See this previous post for the link to the original proposal.

If they weren't affiliated with Catholic institutions and thus had some credibility as Catholic leaders, would their opinions really matter? They can claim their arguments are reasoned from moral theology and canon law, but who would be paying attention to them if they were unknown bloggers just making this proposal?

How Much Dreck Would a Yellow Check Check? by Gladden Pappin & Gregory Caridi

I'll focus on the critical point:

Claim 7: The bishops will favor certain viewpoints and disfavor others

This objection fails to distinguish between levels of theological discussion and thus highlights a situation that is not in itself problematic. A yellow check would not imply, any more than a mandatum does, that those who have it are not permitted disagreement over matters that are open to discussion. The task of determining what matters are open and closed is already undertaken by bishops as an essential part of their authority. Consider canon 216: “No undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.” This canon permits the bishops to solemnize certain associations and organizations as “Catholic” while denying others.

Among associations deemed Catholic, there can be a divergence of viewpoints on nonessential matters, as well as different emphases. A yellow check system would foster better intra-ecclesiastical discourse by forbidding those with the yellow check from criticizing each other as non-Catholic or the like. At the same time, the yellow check would promote unity around the essential matters of the Church’s magisterium.

They can say this, but do the bishops realize this? Do they acknowledge that much of what the USCCB publishes on its website is not dogma? (Their statements on gun control, health insurance, immigration...) And other opinions, like those positive statements about Judaism or Islam, even if they appeal to Vatican II or papal statements, are not dogma either, since they do not pertain to Tradition but are the private judgments of bishops about ideas or religions or other particulars?

Until the bishops themselves clarify and show that they are familiar with the difference between Tradition and theological opinion, the fundamental objection remains.

Latins Riding the Coattails of Others' Hero

They don't have something more important to discuss? For example, what is happening in Virginia with respect to gun control?

CNA/Catholic World Report: Catholic bishops: US still ‘painfully’ far from Martin Luther King’s dream and A Catholic looks back on his time in the civil rights movement and The nuns who witnessed the life and death of Martin Luther King