Filipino prelate says synod media coverage all about West

Tuesday, November 4th, 2014

A Filipino cardinal says media coverage of last month’s synod on the family was dominated by the concerns of the West.

Speaking to Filipino media, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said synod media coverage was correct, but focussed on same-sex unions and divorced people.

Yet the synod fathers also discussed families separated by economic migration, the danger of pornography and domestic violence, he said.

“This got less coverage,” he noted.

The prelate also lamented “the lack of Asian and African journalists” covering the Vatican, saying that “coverage of the synod was still dominated by the West”.

But Cardinal Tagle said the Church recognises that the world is becoming increasingly complex.

“[It recognises] that each of us must be comfortable with diversity and complexity. We cannot be shocked if there are different opinions.

“The Christian tradition but also the Word of God and the teachings of the Church, over time, have shown their richness.

“They are not monochromatic or dull. Those that seem different opinions may instead be different facets of the same reality.”

Cardinal Tagle also said labelling people as conservative, liberal or traditionalist is a way of preventing true listening.

Meanwhile, speaking in Poland, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith took issue with media announcing a coming revolution in the Church.

Cardinal Gerhard Muller said the recent synod should be considered revolutionary only in attempting to combat “sin and egoism” and foster “a culture of life rather than death”.

“But there’s no political democracy in the Church, as Benedict XVI has said – nor can there be any revolution in the popular understanding of the word,” Cardinal Müller added.

“From the very beginning, a great revolution of Jesus was carried out in the Church, and this has its centre in God and never loses its significance.”

Sources