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Letter #8, 2017: The New York Times and Steve Bannon[2017-02-08][Engleză]February 7, 2017, Tuesday -- The New York Times and Steve Bannon"Vatican Traditionalists See Hero in Trump Aide." —Headline of a New York Times front-page article today (link) which argues that "Vatican Traditionalists" see US President Donald Trump's top aide and "strategic advisor," the Irish American Catholic and former Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon, as their "Hero." However, the article does not cite a single "Vatican Traditionalist" in support of this thesis. This prompts the question: Fake news? "In a newly turbulent world, Francis is suddenly a lonelier figure. Where once Francis had a powerful ally in the White House in Barack Obama, now there is Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon, this new president’s ideological guru. For many of the Pope’s ideological opponents in and around the Vatican, who are fearful of a pontiff they consider outwardly avuncular but internally a ruthless wielder of absolute political power, this angry moment in history is an opportunity to derail what they see as a disastrous papal agenda." —The central thesis of the New York Times article this morning: that the election of President Trump (and the rise of his advisor, Steven Bannon) is being seen by "Catholic Traditionalists" as a chance to "derail" the agenda of Pope Francis. However, again, no proof of this thesis is offered. The thesis is essentially an assertion of the author. "There was a sense in the Order (of Malta) that the grand master followed the lead of Cardinal Burke because he projected authority, a power that stemmed in part from his support by the Trump administration, one influential knight said." —A key line from this Times article: the author, citing one unidentified but "influential" Knight of Malta, says that "there was a sense" in the Order of Malta that Cardinal Burke was able to influence the Grand Master, Fra Matthew Festing, "because he projected authority, a power that stemmed in part from his support by the Trump administration." But again, no evidence is presented that Burke has been supported in any way by the Trump administration. "Despite Mr. Bannon’s inroads in Rome, Mr. Burke and other traditionalists are not ascendant in the Vatican." —Very odd use of the word "Mr." to describe "Cardinal" Burke. Either it is a typo, or it is intentional. If it is a typo, an oversight, it is unimportant. But if it is intentional, then what does it mean? Is it an attempt at foreshadowing? Does it express the hidden "wish" of Times editors? Do they subconsciously desire to see Cardinal Burke "demoted" by Pope Francis to the status of a layman, so that the title "Mr. Burke" will be appropriate? "The Pope, Father Spadaro said, is doing everything he can to avoid the clash of civilizations that both fundamentalist Muslims and Christians want." —The main point of the work of Pope Francis over the past four years: to avoid or head off a global clash, a global war, between Christians and Muslims. On this, Pope Francis is certainly right: a global war between Christians and Muslims would be tragic for everyone ================= Correction: I wrote yesterday that letters "SPQR" in Rome refer to the Latin words: "Senatus Populus que Romanus" ("The Roman Senate and People"). However, Latin requires that "que," which means "and," be attached to the word before it when linking the two previous words. So, the correct Latin is: "Senatus Populusque Romanus," literally "The Senate and People Roman" (that is, "The Roman Senate and People"). I made the "que" a separate word because I thought otherwise many people would ask "Where is the word beginning with 'q'?" I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. ===================== Today brings a disappointing article from The New York Times. The article is disappointing because, though mildly interesting, it gives no evidence to support its chief thesis: that Trump advisor Steve Bannon has been forging links with "Traditional Catholics" in the Vatican in order to context the reforms of Pope Francis. For this reason, I would like to go through this article carefully, observing how it is "stitched together" to give the impression that some evidence is being brought to bear while in truth no evidence at all is being given. In doing this, my target is not the author of the piece, who clearly has toiled to research and compose his piece, but rather the New York Times editors who exploited the work of this journalist for a polemical purpose and a conclusion far beyond what the available evidence warrants. This is an egregious case of editorial overreach for a polemical purpose, and I find it shameful. Here below is the text of today's very misleading article, with my comments interwoven. Enjoy the read... ======================= The New York Times, Page 1, Tuesday, February 7, 2017 Steve Bannon Carries Battles to Another Influential Hub: The Vatican By JASON HOROWITZ FEB. 7, 2017 (Pope Francis leading a prayer at the Vatican in late January. The Pope’s agenda has made him a figure of unmatched global popularity, especially among liberals. Credit L'Osservatore Romano, via Reuters) ROME — When Stephen K. Bannon was still heading Breitbart News, he went to the Vatican to cover the canonization of John Paul II and make some friends. High on his list of people to meet was an archconservative American cardinal, Raymond Burke, who had openly clashed with Pope Francis. [Note: From the outset, we are introduced to two key characters; Steve Bannon, Trump's advisor, and Cardinal Burke, the "archconservative" American cardinal. The canonization of Pope John Paul II was on April 27, 2014. So the meeting between Bannon and Burke which will be recounted occurred in that time frame. That was before the first Synod on the Family, which was to take place in October 2014...] In one of the cardinal’s antechambers, amid religious statues and book-lined walls, Cardinal Burke and Mr. Bannon — who is now President Trump’s anti-establishment eminence — bonded over their shared worldview. They saw Islam as threatening to overrun a prostrate West weakened by the erosion of traditional Christian values, and viewed themselves as unjustly ostracized by out-of-touch political elites. [Note: We ask ourselves: Where did the journalist get this information? Was he present at the meeting? We learn that, no, he was not present... but the meeting was described to him by someone who, evidently, was present. But who was that person? Was it Bannon? Cardinal Burke? No... it was...] “When you recognize someone who has sacrificed in order to remain true to his principles and who is fighting the same kind of battles in the cultural arena, in a different section of the battlefield, I’m not surprised there is a meeting of hearts,” said Benjamin Harnwell, a confidant of Cardinal Burke who arranged the 2014 meeting. (Note: Here below, an image of Steve Bannon (left) and Benjamin Harnwell (right) in St. Peter's Square on April 27, 2014, at the Canonization of Pope John Paul II) [Note: Ok, now we have the source: Benjamin Harnwell. He is described as a "confidant of Cardinal Burke" and the person who "arranged the 2014 meeting" between Bannon and Burke... So, presumably, it is Harnwell who is telling the journalist what happened during the meeting, and of how the two men "viewed themselves as unjustly ostracized" by "out-of-touch political elites," of how there was a "meeting of hearts." But note, Harnwell is not a Vatican official, though he runs a Foundation with offices in Rome. So, we still do not have any source for the claim in the headline that "Vatican Traditionalists" see in Steve Bannon a "hero"...] While Mr. Trump, a twice-divorced president who has boasted of groping women, may seem an unlikely ally of traditionalists in the Vatican, many of them regard his election and the ascendance of Mr. Bannon as potentially game-changing breakthroughs. [Note: Ok. Now we have a sudden expansion of the meaning of the Burke-Bannon meeting of April 2014 to include "many... traditionalists in the Vatican" who view -- but there is no evidence given for this! -- that the "election (of Trump) and the ascendance of Mr. Bannon" are "potentially game-changing breakthroughs." But who is saying this? No one. This story has "jumped the shark" from the description of one meeting of Cardinal Burke with Bannon and Harnwell (evidently) to present the general "mood" in the Vatican today, since the November 8 election of Trump... But there is no support given for this assertion...] Just as Mr. Bannon has connected with far-right parties threatening to topple governments throughout Western Europe, he has also made common cause with elements in the Roman Catholic Church who oppose the direction Francis is taking them. [Note: No examples of this "common cause" are given. No names of these "elements" are given. These "facts" are merely assertions...] Many share Mr. Bannon’s suspicion of Pope Francis as a dangerously misguided, and probably socialist, pontiff. [Note: No source for this assertion.] Until now, Francis has marginalized or demoted the traditionalists, notably Cardinal Burke, carrying out an inclusive agenda on migration, climate change and poverty that has made the Pope a figure of unmatched global popularity, especially among liberals. [Note: A broad-brush, simplistic description of the four years of this papacy...] Yet in a newly turbulent world, Francis is suddenly a lonelier figure. Where once Francis had a powerful ally in the White House in Barack Obama, now there is Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon, this new president’s ideological guru. [Note: Ok... Now we are beginning to get the thesis of this piece; that the Trump election has changed the political "calculation of forces" also for the Vatican and the Pope. But again, no one in the Vatican is cited as saying this...] For many of the Pope’s ideological opponents in and around the Vatican, who are fearful of a pontiff they consider outwardly avuncular but internally a ruthless wielder of absolute political power, this angry moment in history is an opportunity to derail what they see as a disastrous papal agenda. [Note: Ok... still waiting for a source to appear from the Vatican, other than Harnwell, who is not a Vatican official... The writer is telling us what the "ideological opponents" of Pope Francis think about him, but he has no sources for these assertions...] And in Mr. Trump, and more directly in Mr. Bannon, some self-described “Rad Trads” — or radical traditionalists — see an alternate leader who will stand up for traditional Christian values and against Muslim interlopers. [Note: Ok... now we know who is being set up to play the role of allies with Trump and Steve Bannon -- the "rad-trads," the "radical Traditionalists"... Will we hear from one of them? Will one of them confirm this is their view?...] “There are huge areas where we and the Pope do overlap, and as a loyal Catholic, I don’t want to spend my life fighting against the Pope on issues where I won’t change his mind,” Mr. Harnwell said over a lunch of cannelloni. “Far more valuable for me would be spend time working constructively with Steve Bannon.” [Note: Ok, so we are back to Harnwell, now at lunch near the Vatican -- not inside the Vatican, it would appear -- over a nice plate of cannelloni. (Nice detail; but where is the "cannelloni" with regard to the Vatican traditionalist sources who will provide support for this report?) The message of Harnwell is, in fact, that Harnwell agrees with Pope Francis on "huge areas" and does not want to "fight against the Pope," that he is "loyal" to Pope Francis because he is a "loyal Catholic," but that he does wish to "work constructively" with Steve Bannon, that is, with one of the more powerful, influential men now in the United States, arguably the most powerful country on earth. This seems a reasonable, pragmatic position for a Catholic activist on issues of human life and human dignity to take. Does it suggest any "hero-worship" with regard to Bannon? I don't think so...] He made it clear he was speaking for himself, not for the Institute for Human Dignity, a conservative Catholic group that he founded, and insisted that he shared the Pope’s goals of ensuring peace and ending poverty, just not his ideas on how to achieve it. [Note: So Harnwell is at pains to stress how much he shares with the agenda and vision of Pope Francis...] Mr. Bannon publicly articulated his worldview in remarks a few months after his meeting with Cardinal Burke, at a Vatican conference organized by Mr. Harnwell’s institute. [Note: Ok. This is the talk Bannon gave via video from Los Angeles. After spending time in Rome in April 2014, he went back to the States, and during the summer of 2014, participated in Harnwell's annual conference via video... The conference was held inside the Vatican, but Bannon was not present, he was in Los Angeles...] Speaking via video feed from Los Angeles, Mr. Bannon, a Catholic, held forth against rampant secularization, the existential threat of Islam, and a capitalism that had drifted from the moral foundations of Christianity. [Note: The entire text of the talk was sent out in my Letter #6 of a few days ago, and may be found here...] That talk has garnered much attention, and approval by conservatives, for its explicit expression of Mr. Bannon’s vision. Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com Contor Accesări: 1281, Ultimul acces: 2026-09-29 23:27:15
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