Pope Francis Lashes Out At Criticism From The Catholic Press, Calls It 'Work Of The Devil'

NEW YORK — Pope Francis is no fan of press criticism — especially when it comes from Roman Catholic news outlets on the doctrinal right.

The 84-year-old Argentinian-born pontiff was caught in a candid moment during his recent trip to Slovakia when he was asked about his health after a recent operation.

“Still alive,” the pope replied, “even though some people wanted me to die.”

The shocking statement came in a meeting the pope had with 53 Jesuits from Slovakia on Sept. 12 in Bratislava. Antonio Spadaro, a priest and editor-in-chief of the Rome-based Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, was present at the meeting and published the full transcript of the conversation on Sept. 21.

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The comments immediately sparked a Catholic media war that again helped to highlight how polarized Catholics have been during Francis’ papacy, as have the media that a large swarth of parishioners choose to read.

Asked by another Jesuit at the same gathering how he felt by those who view him with suspicion, Francis replied, “There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope.

“I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.”

The TV channel he referred is EWTN, according to the National Catholic Reporter. The Eternal World Television Network was founded in 1980 by a nun named Mother Angelica and began broadcasting a year later from a garage at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama. Since then, it has grown to become one of the largest and most influential Catholic news organizations in North America.

This is what the Reporter published on its website, expanding on the pope’s remarks:

“In recent years, EWTN, which is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and is one of the Catholic church’s largest media enterprises, has become known for its regular antagonistic coverage of Pope Francis and partisan political focus. No other Catholic media conglomerate has regularly featured such open criticism of Francis. Most notably, host Raymond Arroyo has regularly promoted and interviewed the schismatic former papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Viganò has previously called for Pope Francis' resignation.”

Vigano, who served as papal nuncio to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, has been a thorn of the side of the pope since the Theodore McCarrick scandal erupted in 2018 when decades-old allegations emerged that the cardinal had abused boys and young seminarians. A year later, Francis defrocked McCarrick, but Vigano — who was interviewed several times by various Catholic news outlets — alleged that the pope had been aware of the sexual misconduct and even eased restrictions on McCarrick’s ministry.

A Vatican probe released in November 2020 largely exonerated Francis, placing the blame on Pope John Paul II and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, for McCarrick’s ascent up the ranks until he became cardinal of Washington, D.C.

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Francis, who was hospitalized for 10 days this past July after intestinal surgery, has previously expressed frustration over news organizations who have criticized his papacy.

But not since the days when Donald Trump was in the White House have we seen a leader with such power and influence lash out at a news outlet directly. Trump did so — most often at the expense of CNN and newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post — with regularity during news conferences and on Twitter during his presidency.

Reaction across Catholic media was swift. America, a Jesuit magazine in the U.S., reported that EWTN and its associated publications, the National Catholic Register and Catholic News Agency, along with 500 radio affiliates, have “been highly critical of Pope Francis” over the years.

The National Catholic Register was one of two outlets that published the former nuncio to the United States and QAnon conspiracy theorist Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s explosive 2018 ‘testimony’ calling on the pope to resign,” the paper reported. “Raymond Arroyo, the host of EWTN’s ‘The World Over,’ has interviewed many of Pope Francis’ most fervent critics, including Archbishop Viganò, Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Cardinal Raymond Burke.”

The Pillar penned an editorial hours after the remarks were made public highlighting the polarization that is taking place both politically and doctrinally among American Catholics:

“Whether it comes in the form of pompous TV punditry or shrill editorializing, ecclesiastical coverage has polarized right alongside the secular outlets which it aspires to ape, be it Fox News or the New York Times. Along the way, Catholic media figures have carved up the church — readers, writers, bishops, and even popes — into ‘our people’ and ‘those people,’ with content and commentary skewed to fit the divide.

“Within the microclimate of the Catholic media world, that approach leads to sometimes comical extremes: the Raymond Arroyo Show airing grainy cell phone conversations with Archbishop Viganò, despite the archbishop’s discredited public reputation and open hostility to the very concept of Vatican II, or the National Catholic Reporter making heroic editorial contortions to avoid acknowledging Pope Francis’ repeated denunciations of legal abortion or rejections of same-sex marriage.”

The National Catholic Register reported on the pope’s comments in a news story posted to its website but offered no commentary as to whether he was referring to EWTN.

Meanwhile, Arroyo offered no comment on his Twitter account on Tuesday.

The Vatican also has yet to comment on the pope’s remarks. Vatican News, a website run by the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, did not mention the pope’s comments regarding EWTN in its report.

Clemente Lisi is a senior editor and regular contributor to Religion Unplugged. He is the former deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.