EWTN called out by Pope Francis

[Mercedes]

The Pillar reports.

In remarks published this week in a Jesuit journal, Pope Francis drew attention for his comments about a “a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope” — a television station largely understood to be EWTN.

At least among Catholic media figures, the remark has stoked a great deal of conversation, if only because EWTN is both the largest Catholic media conglomerate in the game, and also the most controversial.

Of course, it is somewhat awkward when the media covers the media; it's hard to claim objectivity when one is writing about others working in the same space. And it is especially awkward to write about the network for which one used to work.*

But disagreement over EWTN — and its purported manner of “speaking ill” about Pope Francis — point to the challenges for American Catholics — and for the Church’s life and ministry — posed by the Catholic media landscape.

The problems of Catholic media are the problems of institutional media writ small. Legacy outlets have, for decades and across several pontificates, cultivated a crowd and a viewpoint to which they pander.

Whether it comes in the form of pompous TV punditry or shrill editorializing, ecclesiastical coverage has polarized right alongside the secular outlets which it aspires to ape, be it Fox News or the New York Times.

Along the way, Catholic media figures have carved up the Church — readers, writers, bishops, and even popes — into “our people” and “those people,” with content and commentary skewed to fit the divide.

Within the microclimate of the Catholic media world, that approach leads to sometimes comical extremes: the Raymond Arroyo Show airing grainy cell phone conversations with Archbishop Viganó, despite the archbishop’s discredited public reputation and open hostility to the very concept of Vatican II, or the National Catholic Reporter making heroic editorial contortions to avoid acknowledging Pope Francis’ repeated denunciations of legal abortion or rejections of same-sex marriage.

Read on here.

[KnightofChrist]

"There is a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope. I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the Church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil." -Pope Francis, speaking of EWTN

 

 

Papa says EWTN is the devil. 

[debc]

I stopped watching them mostly the last few years. I noticed a change after Mother Angelica died. I don't like the bashing hid under piousness, the passive aggressive talk about things he said or other bishops. When Pope John Paul ll said things Mother didn't agree with, she said she would not argue, he was Pope.

I feel bad that Pope Francis sees and hears others on "Catholic" stations and videos wish he was gone. How sad for our religion.

 

[Didacus]

I stand with the papa, no matter the opinion of any media.

 

[Peace]

10 hours ago, KnightofChrist said:

Papa says EWTN is the devil. 

Nonsense. This is false. That is not what Pope Francis said.

[MIKolbe]

10 hours ago, KnightofChrist said:

Papa says EWTN is the devil. 

[Didacus]

Papa is no mere church-lady...

https://www.google.ca/search?q=church+SNL&prmd=ivnx&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS0uPh5ZLzAhXQKFkFHWdOCt8Q_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=520&dpr=2#imgrc=imhoNPNI_lbuQM&imgdii=anoOh8EC7KhIVM

[GraceUk]

I only watch it very occasionally these days. I haven't noticed anybody criticising the pope. I sometimes watch the pro life discussions and the Journey Home is good but even that's changed.  But a lot of it is is very repetitive. And the childrens programmes are awful. I think it's had its day. 

[Ash Wednesday]

I haven't watched enough of EWTN regularly to really comment on it since I usually just field the news from various sources in bits and pieces. With youtube, blogs, websites and social media it's a whole different ball of wax these days as far as getting Catholic news or discussing current events. 

[KnightofChrist]

I don't watch ETWN much, but what I've seen doesn't deserve to be demonized. 

But maybe I missed it when they promoted bowing down to idols in the EWTN gardens. 

[Peace]

3 hours ago, KnightofChrist said:

I don't watch ETWN much, but what I've seen doesn't deserve to be demonized. 

But maybe I missed it when they promoted bowing down to idols in the EWTN gardens. 

Yeah you just couldn't resist to take another cheap shot at Pope Francis I see.

[KnightofChrist]

 

 

God bless Mother Angelica, but I'm sure if alive today she'd be accused of being working for Satan too. Because she never held back on the truth. As can be seen in the video. 

[Ash Wednesday]

Mother is very much missed. I always loved that speech.

[Lilllabettt]

I'm no fan of PF as I think most here are well aware. However EWTN is cringe. 15 yrs ago it was low production value but wholesome. The last I saw they gave way too much airtime to Raymond Arroyo, who is constantly "playing" what he must think a journalist is on TV, theatrically. Then they have the "papal posse." It's low dignity and cringe. And they go well over the line in terms of criticizing PF. 

HOWEVER If I could get one message to the Pope it would be: if you dislike division why not try being less divisive, to see if that helps? 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Lilllabettt

[KnightofChrist]

6 minutes ago, Lilllabettt said:

I'm no fan of PF as I think most here are well aware. However EWTN is cringe. 15 yrs ago it was low production value but wholesome. The last I saw they gave way too much airtime to Raymond Arroyo, who is constantly "playing" what he must think a journalist is on TV, theatrically. Then they have the "papal posse." It's low dignity and cringe. And they go well over the line in terms of criticizing PF. 

HOWEVER If I could get one message to the Pope it would be: if you dislike division why not try being less divisive, to see if that helps? 

 

I can see how it being cringe is possible. I haven't really watched it regularly in about 15yrs. Even then I listened mostly, on Shortwave radio. But is it the devil's work? 

And yes, this unites how?

Edited September 23, 2021 by KnightofChrist

[debc]

Pope Francis is a lot like Jesus, wanting to unite and have us love each other and help each other.

Mother Angelica was a good nun but as she got older, she got more strict and as Raymond Arroyo said, "more impatient, more dooms day" and when her final stroke came, she changed again. She was afraid of change but obeyed the Pope. When John Paul ll said alter girls were okay after she hated the idea, she said she would say it no more. That was it. Altar girls don't make girls want to be priests, they like helping and I've seen decades of them in my life. Things like that divide the church, when someone wont yield because "It always was this way"  The fear evoked just from something as minor as that was another crack.

This Pope has brought many back to see the church, to at least listen when they had shut off their ears, but the ultra conservatives will drive some of them away again. My opinion but I hear the love for him but not those who mock him or talk behind his back. Why they would want to support them , it's hard for them to separate the love they feel and wanting to to good but read the horrible things in many articles, discussions on TV and on youtube etc. That is not Christian.

[KnightofChrist]

4 hours ago, debc said:

Pope Francis is a lot like Jesus, wanting to unite and have us love each other and help each other.

Mother Angelica was a good nun but as she got older, she got more strict and as Raymond Arroyo said, "more impatient, more dooms day" and when her final stroke came, she changed again. She was afraid of change but obeyed the Pope. When John Paul ll said alter girls were okay after she hated the idea, she said she would say it no more. That was it. Altar girls don't make girls want to be priests, they like helping and I've seen decades of them in my life. Things like that divide the church, when someone wont yield because "It always was this way"  The fear evoked just from something as minor as that was another crack.

This Pope has brought many back to see the church, to at least listen when they had shut off their ears, but the ultra conservatives will drive some of them away again. My opinion but I hear the love for him but not those who mock him or talk behind his back. Why they would want to support them , it's hard for them to separate the love they feel and wanting to to good but read the horrible things in many articles, discussions on TV and on youtube etc. That is not Christian.

But does EWTN actually do the devil's work?

[debc]

EWTN has people that say things that are

4 hours ago, KnightofChrist said:

But does EWTN actually do the devil's work?

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2021/09/pope-francis-did-not-say-ewtn-work-of-the-devil.html

He never said that, but people who go on or do shows there or interviews have. Anything he says or does becomes fodder for the next video or talk show. I heard a Catholic channel talk for days about where ashes should go, who is being allowed to put them on the forehead vs another place. (although not a new thing elsewhere) I heard a Catholic radio show ask people to call in with what was going on at their parish with Covid and masks. This is not what Jesus would care about, Why is this? No one else sees this as odd?  I feel our religion is more than rubrics, you need commandments, you need to know sin, but you need to love more, serve mankind, look outside of yourself and say more than words. Words and doing a routine doesn't make you holy. I have heard a lot of criticism and veiled criticism of Pope Francis with no real basis. I have turned off EWTN, stopped videos from Catholic hosts on you tube. There are so many articles by "conservatives" saying he isn't Pope, it's just awful. I hope Jesus blesses him even more when he is turning cheeks.

 

[Peace]

On 9/24/2021 at 5:21 AM, debc said:

EWTN has people that say things that are

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2021/09/pope-francis-did-not-say-ewtn-work-of-the-devil.html

He never said that, but people who go on or do shows there or interviews have. Anything he says or does becomes fodder for the next video or talk show.

True, but what Pope Francis said and intended does not actually matter.

What matters is that we prefer the TLM over the NO, we don't like Pope Francis because he does not agree with us, and what he said gives us an opportunity to criticize him, fair or unfair.

On 9/24/2021 at 5:21 AM, debc said:

I heard a Catholic channel talk for days about where ashes should go, who is being allowed to put them on the forehead vs another place. (although not a new thing elsewhere) I heard a Catholic radio show ask people to call in with what was going on at their parish with Covid and masks. This is not what Jesus would care about, Why is this? No one else sees this as odd?  I feel our religion is more than rubrics, you need commandments, you need to know sin, but you need to love more, serve mankind, look outside of yourself and say more than words. Words and doing a routine doesn't make you holy. I have heard a lot of criticism and veiled criticism of Pope Francis with no real basis. I have turned off EWTN, stopped videos from Catholic hosts on you tube. There are so many articles by "conservatives" saying he isn't Pope, it's just awful. I hope Jesus blesses him even more when he is turning cheeks.

Well, I wouldn't say "conservatives". I consider myself a conservative.

What we are talking about is a subset of "trads". There's a group of young guys at my Church like this and they are quite annoying. If you get anywhere near the topic of the Mass they'll start ranting off a long laundry list of things that they think are defective about the NO, and why its done better in the TLM. If you even try to explain the reason why its done differently in the NO, they'll get into a huge argument with you. They can't accept that there are different ways of doing things that are both good. It has to be their way or the highway. A lot of these guys are extremely prideful and judgmental, they just don't realize it. They seem to think they know everything, and I do suspect that this is a big part of the reason the TLM has become popular with a them. They seem to use it as an opportunity to say "I know better than you."

[KnightofChrist]

On 9/24/2021 at 5:21 AM, debc said:

EWTN has people that say things that are

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2021/09/pope-francis-did-not-say-ewtn-work-of-the-devil.html

He never said that, but people who go on or do shows there or interviews have. Anything he says or does becomes fodder for the next video or talk show. I heard a Catholic channel talk for days about where ashes should go, who is being allowed to put them on the forehead vs another place. (although not a new thing elsewhere) I heard a Catholic radio show ask people to call in with what was going on at their parish with Covid and masks. This is not what Jesus would care about, Why is this? No one else sees this as odd?  I feel our religion is more than rubrics, you need commandments, you need to know sin, but you need to love more, serve mankind, look outside of yourself and say more than words. Words and doing a routine doesn't make you holy. I have heard a lot of criticism and veiled criticism of Pope Francis with no real basis. I have turned off EWTN, stopped videos from Catholic hosts on you tube. There are so many articles by "conservatives" saying he isn't Pope, it's just awful. I hope Jesus blesses him even more when he is turning cheeks.

 

The article from Pathos neglected to mention that many liberal leaning Catholic personalities and outlets also believe Pope Francis meant EWTN. Some on the left happy to make digs and hahaha towards EWTN. 

I'm guessing this is a lot like those on the far left hate Fox News, and those on the far right hate CNN. When honestly, normal people can read/watch both while understanding yes they're bias but not the devil.