Three news stories purporting to have inside information on the shape of the election of Pope Francis during the conclave of 2013. For whatever they're worth.

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I've been noticing two media outlets trying to do profiles of the papabile for the upcoming papal conclave. There are ones that I would rate as more serious ones from John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter, and less-informed ones from the Associated Press. I doubt I can fit them all into a single entry, so I'm going to jot Allen's down here ( Read more... )

I've been noticing two media outlets trying to do profiles of the papabile for the upcoming papal conclave. There are ones that I would rate as more serious ones from John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter, and less-informed ones from the Associated Press. I doubt I can fit them all into a single entry, so I'm going to jot Allen's down here ( Read more... )

I've been noticing two media outlets trying to do profiles of the papabile for the upcoming papal conclave. There are ones that I would rate as more serious ones from John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter, and less-informed ones from the Associated Press. I doubt I can fit them all into a single entry, so I'm going to jot Allen's down here ( Read more... )

I've been noticing two media outlets trying to do profiles of the papabile for the upcoming papal conclave. There are ones that I would rate as more serious ones from John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter, and less-informed ones from the Associated Press. I doubt I can fit them all into a single entry, so I'm going to jot Allen's down here ( Read more... )

Going over the biographical essay in the draft for my book, adapting and expanding upon the work I did in the dissertation. I see that the question of the local church - the local church and the regional church - needed more attention than it received at Vatican II, according to Sullivan. Certainly a problem in the Catholic Church is excessive ( Read more... )

I was honestly a bit surprised to find such a blunt appraisal in the New York Times this week. I've long been concerned by the destruction of diversity in the American religious sphere represented by the destruction of liberal Christianity, but it seemed to be impossible to convince such people that they had left the liberalism of the Niebuhrs, or ( Read more... )

In recent months, I've been interested to see some reports that have made me think some more about the power of the press to shape contemporary consciousness as to what is the news and how to perceive it. This thinking has been sometimes brought on, interestingly enough, by (what seems all too rare to me) stories that made it into the news cycle ( Read more... )

He was a part of the flavour of my lifetime. I rarely watched 60 Minutes, but I was always surprised and pleased if I caught a bit of it in recent years to see that Andy Rooney was still doing his thing.Andy Rooney, wry '60 Minutes' commentator, diesNov 5, 2:50 PM (ET ( Read more... )

Too funny. I've always thought that writing a snarky guide for reporters writing about Catholicism or religion in general might be a fun, sort of "reverse" form of making clear some points that are popularly confused, or are just favourite old bigotries that people like to repeat for the entertainment and self-righteousness value. So it's great ( Read more... )