Does the media secretly get paid by the Catholic church?

Question

I was watching the news today and they had a feature story about the Pope baptizing some babies. Am I the only one who see way to much Catholism on major news compared to other religions. Protestant and evangelicals have baby baptisms all the time. Yet the only time you get a story about a nonCatholic Christian is negative like the recent story of the idiot Pat Robenson saying that God told him American will get attacked in 2007.

I have nothing against Catholism but if the Pope is going to make the news everytime he drops a pen I would like to see what is going on in the world of other religions. What are hindus and buddhist upto lately. What have been Baptist leaders been upto lately. Whats going on with the top Atheist leaders.

I can only guess that media agency are getting side money from the Catholic church to give them constant exposure, though I love a good conspiracy theory.

Answer 1

It is a demographics issue. The only larger group in the world are the citizens of the People's Republic of China and given the difference of the birth rates, the Catholic Church will soon be the largest single group of people in the world.

There are 46,000 Protestant denominations all professing something different. There is a dilution effect. Which group do you cover? Protestants do get press coverage, but generally for controversies. The difference is also in part the role the Church plays in the world. Governments still use the Vatican to this day to settle disputes. The Vatican determined the borders for two countries just a few years ago. Unlike the United Nations, the Vatican is considered impartial.

In addition, many things that happen behind the scenes in the world are supported by the Vatican. When the Palestinians were expelled in 1948 it was the Vatican that set up the refugee camps, schools and so forth to protect them and give them a chance at a life. The UN later took over. When millions of Russians were starving under Stalin, it was the Vatican that arranged donations of food for Russia. Stalin had the food destroyed however. So the Vatican ends up being a quiet center of diplomacy. The Vatican had successfully negotiated peace between North and South Viet Nam, but the United States could not participate because of the politics of working with the Vatican at that time. Because it took a couple of days for the United States to become aware that a peace treaty had been finalized, it acted as though one had not occured and started a new offensive. The North felt betrayed and the process fell apart. That is the actual reason Ronald Regan established diplomatic relations with the Vatican. It was to prevent any further such occurances. Can you imagine the 1970's without the fall of Saigon?

Since the Second Vatican Council, lots of things done in all denominations happen first in Rome. For example, Rome restructured the lectionary in 1968. It changed the structure of readings to acknowledge that people cannot attend Church every day. So the entire bible is now read over a three year period instead. Six months later, the presbyterians adopted the Catholic cycle of readings, then the Lutherans, Episcopalians and Methodists. Right now all major denominations follow the Roman Catholic cycle of scripture readings. A few make minor modifications because Catholics have more books, but otherwise they are the same.

Gradually the major Protestant denominations have been conforming their service to the Roman service. So much so that when a Methodist minister I know had her congregation order service books, when the board accidently ordered Catholic instead of Methodist books, no one noticed the differences. They ended up keeping them as they are a poor church.

And, in the end, only the Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic Churches can honestly show an episcopate that actually goes back to the apostles. The Pope as both an apostolic successor by ordination (See Acts 1:46) and the successor to Peter has a unique role in the world. The very earliest Christian writings outside the bible seem to presume that the bishop Rome has taken such a role. Where else can you find a single institution that has survived for 2000 years?

Much of what happens in the world either begins in Rome or gets sanctioned in Rome.

Hinduism isn't centralized and exists primarily in one country. You do hear about the Dali Lama, but otherwise it too is quite splintered and doesn't seem to act as a coordinated group. You do hear alot about Islam.

Answer 2

After all the anti-Catholic attitudes portrayed by the media (sex scandals that happened 30 years ago), it should be a good thing that the media is trying to portray Catholicism in a different light. Every religion has had something like that. Every profession has had people scandalizing their profession. The media portrays other religions in a bad light as well, such as Islam. It is the scandals that sell unfortunately. If the media tries to focus on the good things going on, their news won't sell. And media is a business. Also, Catholicism is one of the top religions that is influencial in the world. So there is no surprise that it would be portrayed more often in the media, whether it is good or bad news.

Answer 3

Catholics are the largest Christian denomination in the world. That is why we get so much press time and most of the Christian traditions come from us and the media likes to show the Catholic Church every time. We are the most popular religion.

Answer 4

As far as the Roman Catholic Church trying to control politics in the USA, I prefer the answer given by John F Kennedy, when he was running for president, on the subject of his being Catholic. Look it up.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church is the largest and most influential belief system on the planet. That alone attracts media attention. It's as simple as that.

Answer 6

Praise God! Something good has been written about the Catholic Church, something positive is happening.

The Pope is showing that he is a good Pope and I think it is wonderful

God Bless You

Answer 7

I doubt if the Catholic Church is paying the media. The Church has enough expense trying to pay for years of sexual abuse. In fact, the Church is closing churches and selling property to try to raise money for those expenses.

Answer 8

Are you serious??? The media hates Catholics! I'd say all the 'constant exposure' you speak of is overwhelmingly negative!