Today on Register Radio, Ignatius Press’ president and CEO, Mark Brumley, spoke about Pope Benedict XVI’s third and final installment on the life of Jesus – “Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives,” and the resulting media distortion of the book.
“As with the two previous books, this book is aimed at bringing the reader into a closer relationship with Jesus,” said Brumley. “The Pope writes in the forward that he hopes that ‘this short book will help many people toward and alongside Jesus.’”
Brumley pointed to three areas where the media has distorted the Pope’s message: the birthplace of Christ, the angel’s appearance to the shepherds, and the date of Jesus’ birth.
“In some popular media accounts, they’ve said the Pope doesn’t think there really were angels present,” said Brumley. “If you read his narrative, he describes them appearing and affirms that they were there.”
“What’s going on,” asked Brumley, “that the Pope will say one thing and be reported as him saying something else? People in the media are not familiar with the Biblical traditions. They have a vague awareness of these things, and no awareness of the Bible. They’re looking for controversy to make headlines, so they superficially read the Pope’s book and find something that might appear shocking.”
To hear Brumley separate the media fiction from the Pope’s facts, listen to the show today at 2 p.m.
In the second half, Dan Burke speaks with Joseph Pearce on his new book Bilbo's Journey - Discovering the Hidden Meaning of the Hobbit and the virtues found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which just opened in theaters.
You can listen to the entire show at 2 p.m. EASTERN Friday on any EWTN Radio affiliate or Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. The program re-airs at 7 p.m. EASTERN on Saturday and 11 a.m. EASTERN on Sunday, and is also available on the Register Radio web page, and via podcast.
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Distorting and misrepresenting the Pope’s messages has become a “cottage industry” in the liberal media. We are very foolish if we pay attention to what they say. Let us always go to the Holy Father directly for his words and lessons.
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