By arthur Weinreb
Sunday, april 3, 2005Pope John Paul II passed away at 2:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on april 2. Just a little over an hour later, CBC posted a story on its Web site entitled, "Former Nun slams Pope’s views on women, contraception".
The posting dealt with details of what former nun, Joanna Manning had previously told CBC Newsworld. Manning, who was described as a co-founder of Catholic Organizations for Renewal, criticized the Pope for trying "to re-establish the traditional virtues of women as being humble, subordinate and nurturing." Manning was further quoted as saying that the "new doctrine of femininity" that Pope John Paul II had introduced into the Church was "quite dangerous in the effects that it can have on women’s lives." She further criticized the Pope for not listening to people, being against women in the priesthood and for using his power at the United Nations to prevent women from getting access to contraception and aIDS prevention. Manning’s comments were summarized by describing his treatment of women and children as being "a terrible legacy that he leaves and one which the next pope will have to change".
Now Manning is of course entitled to her views and the CBC is right to air different viewpoints. But posting Manning’s interview within minutes of the Pope’s death was unbelievable and shameful, even for the CBC. Canadians, whose tax dollars fund the network should be outraged at the lack of compassion shown not only to the country’s Roman Catholics, but to all those who are saddened at the death of Pope John Paul II.
a perusal of news headlines on Google News from the time of the Pope’s death until Sunday morning reveal only one other article, out of the hundreds that have been posted, that deals with the Pope in a negative fashion. Swissinfo ran a Reuters article entitled, "Women critics say pope left them out" that basically made the same point that Manning had made. at least the Swiss publication waited until the next day to publish the article.
although the CBC is running the same continuous coverage on Newsworld as other media are and this was just one story out of many, the network just couldn’t wait to go negative on an aspect of Christianity. The Pope was not above criticism and his legacy will be discussed and debated in the months and years to come. But an hour after his death was not the time to do it. That should be obvious even to the CBC.
The CBC just couldn’t wait to push their pro-feminist, anti-Christian agenda. The Pope may, as some have predicted, be referred to in the future as John Paul the Great. But to the CBC, he will be as he has always been — just another one of those white guys.