Frankly Speaking: The Pope said What?!!

FRANKLY SPEAKING The Pope said What?!!

TRUTH VS SPIN ...78

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Frankly Speaking

The Pope Said What???!!!

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Pope Francis is a bit of a celebrity thanks to mainstream media attention. But sometimes the media get it wrong!

Some of his astute and helpful reflections have been obscured by controversies fuelled by the post-beforeyou-check-all-the-facts nature of the modern 24 hour news cycle. Here we uncover the messages behind some of the sound-grabs.

How many captions could you put with this picture of Pope Francis blowing a kiss? It’s easy to misinterpret what the Pope means when there is so much media misinformation and everything gets truncated to soundbites.

oops, i DIDN’T MEAN THAT!

Frankly Speaking

Behind the Headlines

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POPE TO CATHOLICS:

DON’T BREED LIKE RABBITS

“God gives you means to be responsible.

Some think that - excuse the language - that in order to be good Catholics, we have to be like rabbits. No! Responsible parenthood!”

The Pope went on to say that we should, “look at the generosity of [the] father and mother who see a treasure in every child”.

The Full Story Pope Francis sure gets people talking, with his warm, down-to-earth style and off-the-cuff, fatherly advice. This was a pretty crazy summary of his message, which was about the need for parents to be responsible in their fertility decisions.

This is what he actually said: “The key word [with regard to family planning], to give you an answer, and the one the Church uses all the time, and I do too, is responsible parenthood. How do we do this? With dialogue. Each person with his pastor seeks how to carry out a responsible parenthood.”

Responsible parenthood means carefully discerning God’s purpose for our fertility.... oops!!!

Frankly Speaking

Pope says: smack your kids

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The Full Story It stirred intense debate when Pope Francis indicated he thought that it was all right for a father to correct his child by smacking. Some commentators agreed with the Pope, while others strongly criticised him. Most were responding to the headlines and TV sound bites without knowing the context of his remarks.

The Pope gave quite a long address about the importance of fathers, beginning with a vision of the pride and emotion a father feels when he realises he has raised his child well. A good father, he said, is present to his family, closely involved in his wife’s and children’s lives, loving, patient, selfsacrificing, prayerful, and forgiving. A good father is not afraid to be loving and also firm with his children when he needs to be.

Today I ate MUM’S favourite shoes. They were very tasty.

Now I’m In Trouble.

“The father who knows how to correct without humiliating is the one who knows how to protect without sparing himself.”

Pope Francis was drawing attention to the important role that fathers play in the discipline of the children. Discipline comes from the word ‘disciple’ and means ‘to teach’. Parents are called to teach and to form their children. The Pope noted that when correction is required, it must never be in a way that humiliates or harms the dignity of the child. “He [the father] must punish, but he does it in a just way, and moves on.”

Frankly Speaking

Pope to boy: your dog is in heaven

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The Full Story The Pope was said to have told a grieving boy that he would see his deceased dog in heaven, saying that “Paradise is open to all God’s creatures.” In fact, when speaking at a weekly audience at the Vatican about the creation of a new heaven and earth after the end times, Pope Francis actually said: “It’s lovely to think of this, to think we will find ourselves up there. All of us in heaven. It’s good, it gives strength to our soul. At the same time, the Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”

Excuse me! but what about cats... do they go to heaven?

There was no boy crying about his dog present, but the story raced around the world until it was found to be false, forcing news outlets to issue corrections.

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Where to go for the real deal Here are a few websites to bookmark for a deeper look beyond the headlines or to find out the context of the Pope’s remarks: The Pope’s homilies and addresses | w2.vatican.va News | www.zenit.org | www.osservatoreromano.va/en Commentary | www.patheos.com/Catholic