Grandfatherly German Theologians Do Not Rail

In related news, the media is not covering the Pope accurately.

Nope, neither was I:

...Leave aside the fact that apparently reporters are congenitally unable to understand anything in a sermon that is not directly tied to politics. And leave aside the fact that the AP is pulling out one portion of a sermon at the expense of the rest so as to completely conceal, manipulate or mislead as to what Benedict actually said. I just don’t think that lede is accurate.

Here’s the substantiation:

As he inaugurated the church’s main altar, he railed against same-sex marriage and divorce, saying families are built on the “indissoluble love of a man and a woman” who should be provided with financial and social benefits from governments. The pontiff also consecrated the building for use as a church in a colorful ceremony seldom seen performed by a pope.

He criticized policies allowing for abortions, saying “the life of children (must) be defended as sacred and inviolable from the moment of their conception.”

Well, a few things. Those quotes aren’t from an “altar dedication” but the “homily.” And not once does he mention same-sex marriage or divorce. Sure, in his dedication of a temple NAMED AFTER THE HOLY FAMILY, he does talk about how we need to support the family and about the importance of the “generous and indissoluble love of a man and a woman” and that bit about children. If these quotes — pretty standard Christian fare for, oh, the last 2,000 years — are interpreted as “railing against same-sex marriage and divorce,” that might say something about how the reporter interpreted them, but it’s not an accurate description of the homily. Call me old-fashioned but in order to have one’s homily described as “railing against” something, you should actually be “railing” “against” something. What I’m about to quote is the only part of the sermon that could possibly be interpreted as “directly attacking Spanish laws that allow gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier abortions” or “railing against same-sex marriage and divorce”:

For this reason the Church resists every form of denial of human life and gives its support to everything that would promote the natural order in the sphere of the institution of the family.

One wonders how the AP would write up the homily if he actually addressed Spanish laws or railed against same-sex marriage. I mean if saying the church gives its support to the institution of the family is described this way, what’s left to say?...