Now that I've had a few days to sit and think about the election of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost to Pope Leo XIV, I am ... cautiously optimistic.
At least about the papacy.
Many of you regular readers know I had issues, to put it mildly, with the late Pope Francis. Especially is open contempt of the Latin Mass and traditional-minded priests. So I watched the Conclave with a skeptical eye, fearing the Cardinals would elect someone who would continue Francis' anti-Latin Mass, progressive crusade.
Thus far, it seems Pope Leo XIV is more moderate, although not the conservative African Pope I'd prayed for. And I'll take it.
What hasn't changed, however, is my expectations for media coverage of this Pope.
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And for that, I can thank the New York Times:
NYT gives us the first example of US media misreporting/misrepresenting Pope Leo's words.
— John H. Boyer (@johnhboyer) May 9, 2025
Image 1: NYT's characterization of Leo as "pledging to align himself with ordinary people" in his sermon
Image 2: What Leo actually said about "ordinary people" pic.twitter.com/rAtsWIqdMK
It's simply incredible.
Does the New York Times employ any Catholics? Or do they employ anyone with even a modicum of journalistic integrity? No.
The entire purpose of the media now will be to paint Pope Leo XIV as a counter to President Trump and, more specifically, his Catholic convert Vice President, J.D. Vance.
Almost immediately, Leftists seized on an article posted by a count using Robert Prevost's name (although there's some speculation the Holy Father did not actually run that account). Leftist soy boy Harry Sisson said it's 'proof' the Pope 'hates' Vance -- a man he's never met nor spoken to. This also sets aside that the Pope 'hating' anyone is antithetical to, you know, being the leader of the Catholic Church, because forgiveness is kind of the purpose of the Catholic Church.
Of course, Vance is correct in his assertion. The Catholic Church believes in subsidiarity, the social teaching principle that matters are best handled by those closest to it. And Catholic teaching emphasizes a love of God first, followed by a love of neighbor, starting with one's family.
But I don't expect the media to understand the nuances or subtleties of Catholic teaching.
Instead, I expect the remainder of Pope Leo XIV's papacy to be marked by the media selectively parsing his words to use as a political cudgel against Republicans (while conveniently ignoring his views on abortion and gay marriage).
That effort might hold some weight if the Left hadn't spent the last five decades fighting for the separation of church and state. The church -- Catholic or otherwise -- had no place in the public sphere, the Left has argued, and even the mere semblance of religion in government was an egregious violation of the First Amendment.
There's an entire Leftist organization, the atheistic Freedom From Religion Foundation, that spends its time going around suing governments and removing religious expressions from public view, in fact.
This shows how little faith they actually have in their belief there's no God. But I digress.
The New York Times has given us just a taste of what's to come for Pope Leo XIV: misleading stories that force an American Leftist political lens on the Catholic prelate.
Thankfully, us ordinary people see right through it.
