Write to the New York Post

Here is my letter to Chris Shaw, cshaw @ nypost . com, news editor at the Post:

Subject: You have defamed the pope: please retract and apologize.

Dear Chris Shaw:

Re: http:// www . nypost . com / news / worldnews / 64391 . htm

Contrary to the headline and opening paragraphs of the referenced New York Post article, the pope did not give "his blessing" to moving child-molesting priests from parish to parish without notifying the congregation.

That's a reckless charge that is demonstrably false. In fact, any intelligent individual can discern the truth from the defamatory article itself.

The pope was DEFROCKING the priest, thus removing him utterly from ministry. And the phrase "previous condition" referred to is HIS HAVING BEEN A PRIEST, not a child molester.

The real kicker here is that the former priest, to whom the pope was supposedly giving free rein, was at that time (1999) in jail already on consecutive four-to-eight year prison sentences.

It seems to me that your reporter, Kate Sheehy, may have been hoodwinked by disgruntled Catholics who want desperately to drag the pope personally into a mess for which he was not responsible. Shame on them for what they are doing; and shame on you and your newspaper for defaming the pope.

Did Sheehy want a big scoop? Did she have a deadline that prevented her from thinking before writing? No matter. The truth is the truth -- and a falsehood is a falsehood. And your reporter wrote, and your newspaper published, a falsehood about the pope. And not just any falsehood: an outrageous falsehood claiming the pope was personally complicit in the despicable activity of enabling pedophiles to continue to prey on children.

You owe the pope, all Catholics, and your readers, a retraction and an apology.

You are, I see, the news editor; if you are not the right person to handle this, please forward this e-mail to the appropriate individual.

P.S. I am publishing this on my weblog, and I will also publish there any reply from you or anybody associated with the New York Post.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 12/13/02 01:08:40 PM
Categorized as Media.