"There is no such thing as innocent gossip," says Pope Francis.

Conspiracy thinking is a public expression of gossip. It is the belief that an organisation made up of individuals or groups was or is acting secretly to achieve some malevolent end.

Conspiracy theories are concerned about the struggle between good and evil, the conflict between villains acting in secret to manipulate the unsuspecting masses, and the few who, having seen through their plot, are doing their utmost to thwart it.

Significant political, economic, and cultural crises have encouraged conspiracy theories to emerge throughout history.

The theories seek to explain that these crises are caused by secretive, evil plots comprising many actors: a mysterious "them" who manipulate life against us.

The theories then give "us" a reason to scapegoat "them."

Hitler claimed that Jews were poisoning the German Aryan blood and Aryan soul, thus holding back Germany from becoming a dominant nation; they had to be eliminated.

Conspiracy Theories Give False Comfort

Conspiracy beliefs may satisfy people's needs for certainty, security, and a positive self-image in a world they feel is disintegrating.

When the comforting securities of cultures crumble, paranoia makes sense.

The beliefs offer an artificial simplification of the vast unknowable forces that people feel are manipulating national and global societies.

They respond to a real need for persons and cultures that cannot maintain their self-esteem unless they perceive themselves to be victims of intrigue.

An inability to live with uncertainty and ambiguity draws people to conspiracy theories when they validate their apprehensions.

One story answers all their fears.

Thus, the anarchists who invaded the Capitol in Washington, DC in 2021 stormed the buildings with absolute certitude that the elections had been rigged.

In conspiracies, trust, truth, and objectivity lose out.

As long as the group is protected from the assumed source of evil, nothing else is important, no matter what moral or physical violence the innocent experience.

The preservation or the restoration of the status quo must be achieved at all costs. As conspiracy theories provide their devotees with a much-needed sense of identity and security in the midst of chaos, they are not easily discredited by the rational presentation of facts.

Conspiracy theories cause harm

Conspiracy theories are ubiquitous and can cause immense harm to people, influencing political policy decisions and social behaviours, including medical choices.

People are marginalised because they are assumed to be causing harm to individuals and groups; by transferring the blame for their afflictions onto others, people can distract themselves from the real causes.

In Britain, lockdown restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 evoked destructive riots.

Many protestors endorsed conspiracy theories that assumed the government had nefarious motives, such as exaggerating the perils of the virus to suppress the people or imposing forced vaccinations with mysterious substances that facilitate mind control.

Anti-vaccine conspiracy theories poison the minds and endanger the bodies of many citizens.

Sociologist Michael Butter lists three foremost ways why conspiracy theories were particularly dangerous during the Covid-19 pandemic: they led to radicalisation and violence; they encouraged people to disregard medical knowledge and, as a consequence, endangered themselves and others; and they helped to undermine trust in elected politicians and the democratic process as such.

Vulnerable peoples, such as migrants, minority groups, and people who are poor, were in constant danger of being wrongfully blamed, stigmatised, and further marginalised for falsely causing the virus and its consequences.

For example, in India, the Muslim minority has become a scapegoat for Covid-19.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin blamed a Western conspiracy to humiliate Russia by propagating "false" statistics about the number of Covid-19 virus victims there.

Pastoral response

Conspiracy theorising is one of the most problematic subjects for researchers and others to expose.

Devotees apply so much intellectual and emotional energy to their conspiracy theories that it is nearly impossible to keep track of what they are saying and argue against them. Although a dialogue is theoretically possible, it will not usually have the desired effect.

However, if people are not entirely convinced of a theory, there is a greater chance that they will accept that the theory lacks objective truth.

A sensitive low-key approach is necessary, and people need to be listened to and invited to give the sources of a conspiracy theory.

In a calm atmosphere, the challenger is then able to show that a theory has no foundation in reality. Though education reduces the susceptibility of people to conspiracy theories, we require educators who are skilled for the task.

Scriptures and conspiracy beliefs

Trust, that conspiracy theories destroy, includes an expectation of honesty, the assumption that others will do their best to meet their commitments because they have the appropriate knowledge, skill, or ability.

Lying is any deliberate deceptive message.

Truthfulness in communication first demands avoiding lies and deceiving people directly and intentionally. Otherwise, communication becomes a violent manipulation of people.

Truthfulness, however, is much more than not telling lies or deceiving; it necessitates disclosing information to those who have a right to it.

Not lying is ethically essential for any human communication; to knowingly create or foster conspiracy beliefs is to falsify truth.

In the Scriptures, truthfulness is listed among the premier values.

History is a battle between divine Truth and Satan and his followers.

In the Old Testament, the commandment, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour" (Exod 20:16) defends God's people from evil and harmful untruths and infidelities.

Lying violently opposes the covenant that unites the people of God and evokes fidelity and reliability.

The thankful reaction to the gift of the covenant is fidelity and truthfulness before God and towards each other.

St Peter warns his readers against leaders who aim to exploit their fears; he writes to reassure Christians whose faith has been disturbed because the predictions of Christ's second coming have not been confirmed.

They must carefully assess the credentials of leaders before accepting what they are saying: "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly bring in destructive opinions" (2 Peter 2:1).

The same wisdom is needed today lest deceitful people twist reality by their conspiracy theories to suit their malicious intentions.

Conclusion

The potential for gossip and conspiracy theorising accompanied by scapegoating of innocent people is within every human heart.

These behaviours are often closely linked with feelings of fear, uncertainty or being out of control; commonly personal and/or cultural crises encourage such reactions.

Scapegoating falsely focuses on an external cause of problems thus negating or lessening the guilt of the agent; it also makes people feel bonded as they unite with others to scapegoat the victims.

Yet the commandment "Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbour" (Deut 5:20) applies to all forms of scapegoating.

Just as Adam, in the Genesis myth, tries to blame Eve for what has happened rather than admit his own role in the incident, every person has the capacity to blame others for their afflictions and to ignore their own role in causing them.

Jesus condemns this process of shifting the blame onto others: "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour's eye" (Matt 7:5).

Gossip, conspiracy thinking, and scapegoating ultimately killed Jesus.

• Gerald A. Arbuckle, SM, MA(Cam), Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist, New South Wales, Australia.
• A summary of an article by the author: "From Gossip to Conspiracy Thinking: Analysis and Scriptural Evaluations," Australasian Catholic Record, vol. 99, no. 2 (2021).
• First published in Today's Marists, 2023 Vol. 7, Issue 3. Republished with permission.

Father John Mansford Prior's opinion piece specifically addressed the resignation of Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Ruteng on Flores.

It was published in the October 29 edition of Hidup, the Jakarta Diocese's Weekly magazine.

Prior subsequently told UCAnews the church's way of handling these cases is not credible because "priest investigates priest, bishop investigates bishop, and it is done in private."

"Who can really believe in the results of such a process?"

He pointed to a case in Flores where a priest was rumoured to have a mistress, prompting a probe by his provincial.

"The result, it is said to be gossip. The problem is, the investigation process is not transparent.

Even worse, the results were not announced from the pulpit. So, gossip continues," Prior said.

Prior said by promoting transparency, the church "acts fairly with the accused bishop or priest, as well as the lay people who are surrounded by gossip."

With the present model, he said, the church also just focuses on the perpetrator and not the victims.

"Victims should have sufficient counselling and receive compensation according to state rules, while the perpetrator is treated as a perpetrator," he said.

Pope Francis approved the Leteng's resignation on October 11 after an investigation into allegations of misappropriating more than US$100,000 of church funds and an illicit relationship with a woman.

In its official announcement, the Vatican did not give a reason for Leteng's resignation.

Source

• UCAnews
• Image RT

The visit is to mark the start of observances of next year's 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which traditionally dates from Oct. 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a German cathedral.

On Friday (Oct. 28), the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica published an interview that Francis — who is also a member of the Jesuit order — gave to a Swedish Jesuit, the Rev. Ulf Jonsson.

In the interview the two discuss a wide range of topics, from relations between Catholics and Protestants to being a minority faith in a secular culture and the "terrorism" of gossip.

Here are excerpts from their exchange:

On his goals for the Sweden trip and relations with Lutherans:

"I can think of only one word to say: to come close. My hope and expectation is that of coming closer to my brothers and sisters. Closeness does all of us good. Distance, on the other hand, makes us bitter. When we are distant, we close within ourselves and we become individual entities, incapable of encountering each other.

"We are held back by fears. We need to learn to transcend ourselves to encounter others. If we do not do this, we Christians, too, become sick because of our divisions. My expectation is that of being able to take a step of closeness, of being closer to my brothers and sisters in Sweden."

On the best means to promote unity among Christians:

"[T]heological dialogue must continue, even if it will not be easy. Personally, I believe that enthusiasm must shift towards common prayer and the works of mercy — work done together to help the sick, the poor, and the imprisoned. To do something together is a high and effective form of dialogue.

I also think about education. It is important to work together and not in a sectarian way. There is a policy we should have clear in every case: to proselytize in the ecclesial field is a sin. Benedict XVI told us that the Church does not grow by proselytism, but by attraction. Proselytism is a sinful attitude. It would be like transforming the Church into an organization.

Speaking, praying, working together: this is the path that we must take. Look, in ecumenism the one who never makes a mistake is the enemy, the devil. When Christians are persecuted and murdered, they are chosen because they are Christians, not because they are Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Catholics or Orthodox. An ecumenism of blood exists. Continue reading

Sources

• Article by David Gibson in Religion News Service
• Image: Huffington Post

If we don't spread gossip or talk negatively about others, yet find ourselves in the position of hearing it, how can that hurt us personally?

10 reasons why even just listening to gossip or unjust detraction is harmful to our spiritual well-being.

He told members of the clergy in an improvised speech: "If you get an urge to say something against a brother or a sister, to drop a gossip bomb, bite your tongue! Hard!"

We've had the F-bomb and photobombs; now the 79-year-old leader of the Catholic Church is leading new slang.

Except he isn't. In Italian he talked about "una bomba di chiacchiera" (literally "a bomb of gossip"). An Italian speaker wouldn't relate that to slang and the Italian word for photobombing, which is "photobombing" (it seems we invented ruining other people's photos), but something more akin to the "terrorism of gossip".

As for the F-bomb, when I lived in Spain I found out that single words are weak; if you really want to insult someone, the longer, and the more family members involved, the better.

The point here is that the "groovy" feel of the pope's term comes entirely from the English the translator has used - not from the original speech.

All of the words and phrases we use are connected to other words; they have connotations, be they positive, negative, formal, informal, specialist, lay, dated or "groovy".

And once a word is translated, not all of these links can be retained; a whole new set is created, sometimes determined by the receiving culture's opinions and standards, and sometimes entirely arbitrary.

What works in one culture might not work in another, and if we focus on only one aspect and ignore the bigger picture, that is when things go wrong.

Translators always need to imagine an equivalent situation in their own culture, and then think what people would say.

Would the Pope coin the term "gossip bomb" if he were speaking in English? Probably not, although he's not beyond using slang elsewhere, such as when he told an event he was "un tronco con la máquina" (a bonehead at computers). Continue reading

• Richard Mansell is Senior Lecturer in Translation, University of Exeter. This article was published in The Conversation.

Speaking during his homily at his Santa Marta residence, Francis criticized people who think gossip is harmless.

"Gossiping is like terrorism because the person who gossips is like a terrorist who throws a bomb and runs away, destroying," he said. "With their tongue they are destroying and not making peace."

The pontiff went further in his description of the "cunning" gossip, whom he said is "not a suicide bomber" because he takes good care of himself.

Francis called people to question whether they sow peace when they speak, telling them to bite their tongues if they feel the urge to spread divisions among people. Continue reading

Fr Luciano Venturi, 50, parish priest of Monteobizzo di Pavullo in Modena, has endured the claims for more than a year.

On August 30, as Sunday Mass was about to start, Fr Venturi went to the pulpit, flanked by the parishioner he allegedly impregnated, her husband and their three young children.

Fr Venturi then delivered a short homily on the subject of his supposed affair with the woman, addressing his congregation while reading a statement.

"I am not the father of that child," the priest told his flock.

"This is slander and I have asked my lawyers to defend the child, his family and my rights as a priest."

He then announced that in order to stop further rumours from circulating, all parish activity except for Mass would be suspended.

Those activities include charity groups, choir groups, cooking groups and family groups.

Even the youth football group, run by the priest, has been suspended in a bid to stamp out the gossip, which Fr Venturi viewed as being harmful not only to his reputation, but also to the well-being of the family affected.

Meanwhile, in a homily on September 4, Pope Francis called on Catholics to avoid gossip or speaking ill of their peers in the faith.

"We have to convert ourselves," he said.

"Never a word that may divide, never; never a word that can bring war, small wars; never the gossip."

Then, using an analogy he has used several times, the Pontiff said: "To make gossip is terrorism."

"Whoever gossips is like a terrorist that throws a bomb and if it goes off, destroys; destroys with the tongue, doesn't make peace," said the Pope.

"This is cunning, eh? They are not a suicide bomber, no, no, they protect themselves well."

Offering a final prayer at during the homily, Francis asked that Jesus teach "how to bite my tongue before speaking ill of others".

Sources

• Local IT
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Business Management Daily

On September 27, the Pope celebrated Mass for the Vatican's security personnel.

In addition to the more colourful Swiss Guard, the Vatican's other security body is its own police force, the gendarme corps.

The corps of about 130 men is responsible for papal security, crowd control in St Peter's Square and safety, law and order within the Vatican.

In his homily, the Pope said a good guardian, like the archangel, "has the courage to get rid of demons" and has the intelligence to be able to pick them out from the crowd.

He said he knows their job is to be like sentinels, keeping watch and guarding entrances, "doors and windows so no bombs get in".

But, "I want to tell you something a bit sad; there are bombs in here" and it doesn't matter if it's "a homemade bomb or an atomic bomb", every single one is "dangerous" and "there are many".

"The worst bomb inside the Vatican is gossip", which "threatens the life of the Church and the life of [the Vatican] every day", he said, because it "sows destruction" and "destroys the lives of others".

While there are many religious and laypeople in the Vatican who are "sowing good seed", the devil is still getting his way by using others "to sow weeds".

Even the Pope is not immune to this temptation, Francis said; it's a danger "for me, too", because "the devil gives you that yearning".

So in addition to looking for the usual security threats, the Pope told the security force to also crack down on backstabbing and courageously call people out.

Stop them in their tracks and say, "Please sir, please ma'am, please father, please sister, please your Excellency, please your Eminence, please Holy Father, don't gossip; that's not allowed here", the Pope said.

Whatever gripes or problems people have, they should take them directly to the people involved without also complaining to the world, he said.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: CBC

Talking about someone when they are not present is not only an enjoyable pastime, but the positive power of gossip helps form important observations about people and societies, says When Private Talk Goes Public by University of Auckland associate professor Jennifer Frost. read more

When a priest disagrees with his bishop or when bishops disagree with each other, they must air their differences - even loudly - but never talk behind each other's backs, Pope Francis said.

"Say it to his face," the Pope recommended.

"You're a man, so if you have something against your bishop, go and tell him. There may be consequences, but pick up your cross, be a man!"

Not for the first time, the Pope admitted that he, too, has been tempted to gossip.

"I've wondered if this isn't the consequence of a celibate life lived as sterility, not fruitfulness," he said.

The key to a fruitful life comes from "being faithful to God [which is] seeking him, opening oneself to him in prayer, remembering that he is the faithful one", and "opening oneself to others" with empathy, respect and patience.

Continue reading