Vatican admits press release obscured Benedict’s words

The Vatican admits an image of a letter it sent the media last week did not include the full copy.

In the media release, only part of a five-paragraph letter from Emeritus Pope Benedict was visible.

The bottom two lines of the first page and all but Benedict’s signature on the second page were obscured.

In the visible text, Benedict speaks of his and Pope Francis’s papacy. The letter was written to introduce a new series of books written by several authors entitled “The Theology of Pope Francis”.

But, in the blurred part, he explains why he has not read the books.

In another obscured part of the letter, Benedict notes one of the authors involved in the project had launched “virulent,” ‘’anti-papist” attacks against his teaching and that of St John Paul II.

He went on to say he was “surprised” the Vatican had chosen the theologian to be included in the 11-volume series.

Benedict wrote the letter because Mgr Dario Edoardo Viganò, prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, sent him an advance copy of the books inviting him to provide a “dense theological” introduction to the series.

At the book launch Vigano read out the full letter from Benedict.

The media release was the second time the Vatican fudged providing the full copy of Benedict’s letter.

A truncated copy was given to journalists at the book launch. The fourth paragraph was omitted.

This was the one in which Benedict explains he hasn’t read the books.

The reason the full letter was not given to the press has not been explained.

Nor has the Vatican said why it sent a blurred image of the letter to the media.

Professional standards of photojournalism forbid adding or removing anything from photographs, and especially they forbid manipulations that alter their meaning.

Media outlets covering the Pope often rely on handout images from the Vatican.

 

Source

Additional reading

News category: World.

Tags: , , , , ,