The media does not understand Pope Francis.
It's not just that The New York Times and other mainstream media outlets delight in reporting on the pope's off-the-cuff utterances without any necessary context, as if his criticisms of capitalism and his concern for the environment were controversial and not totally in line with the social magisterium of the church and 100 percent in keeping with the thoughts of his immediate predecessor, while ignoring Francis when he says that liberal attitudes about gender are more dangerous than nuclear weapons. And it's not just that reporters who would kick themselves for not knowing that Brookings is an "Institution" rather than an "Institute" can write pieces about the impossibility of using gluten-free matter for consecration at the altar, a teaching that is 2,000 years old, as if it were a gripping headline-making issue of the day. The church has a history and clearly defined teachings that you should be at least passingly familiar with if you're going to pronounce on her.
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