Father Z has some quick translation of Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, responding to the whole condom flap. The story, we now all know, broke because 'l'Oseervatore Romano, for reasons they have not chosen to reveal, printed an explosive quote, that they translated badly, in clear violation of an agreement with the publisher, with no context or explanation.
Here is some of Father Lombardi as translated by Father Z:
“To reduce the whole [of the Pope's book-long] interview to one phrase extrapolated from the totality of the thought of Benedict XVI would be an offence to the intelligence of the Pope and a gratuitous exploitation of his words”. (There is more here.)Father Lombardi does not seem to go further but I think it's time to ask if this, and an increasingly long string of betises by the Vatican newspaper, was just terribly bad judgment or whether there might be evidence of deliberate sabotage here.
Well, I guess Benedict's conversation with Lombardi clarified it. I always felt from the beginning that B. knew exactly what he was saying, what the implications would be, and how it would be reported. And there's history with both the American and African Bishops' Conferences.
ReplyDeleteWORLD | November 24, 2010
After Condom Remarks, Vatican Confirms Shift
By RACHEL DONADIO and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged that the need to prevent disease could outweigh opposition to birth-control devices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/europe/24pope.html?hp
That's staggering: Lombardi says no such thing. They are deliberating distorting the story. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this in my life.
ReplyDelete