For years one of the best news services in the EU has been EUObserver. This online service has been funded by the EDD (forerunners of the current Ind/Dem group) and is edited by Lisabeth Kirk, the wife of Ind/Dem Co-Chairman Jens-Peter Bonde.
The editorial line however was always fiercely protected from political influence, and as such it became a serious port of call for many who are interested in matters EU. However in recent months the service seems to be taking on a suspiciously pro European hue.
Take the current top story, "Ethical question marks over EU Constitution".Pretty devastating stuff for Polish Eurosceptics like the LPF – Ind/Dem group members if this is true.
The headline suggests strongly that the Church – no doubt with the explicit support of the new Pope - has swung its weight behind the European Constitution.
The article starts “The Catholic Church has officially endorsed the EU Constitution”, leaving little room for doubt.
But then we discover that in fact this is not entirely true. The Catholic Church has done nothing of the sort. What has done something is an organisation called COMECE (Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community). This organisation counts amongst its members not a single cardinal (though it does have a few Arch-Bishops). It is a catholic lobby group based in Brussels (and not a particularly effective one given its abject failure to have any reference to Christianity included in the Constitution.
Indeed if you dig through the interminable prose to the bottom this is said
“The current Pope, Benedict XXIV, pointed to these concerns in April, saying "the fact that the Church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination of women, is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution".”Which doesn’t look like a categoric endorsement to me.
No sadly EUObs is talking out of its subsidised arse. This is false reporting suggesting that a Brussels based lobby group is “the catholic Church”. Appalling.
Friday, May 13, 2005
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4 comments:
Yes, I was slightly taken aback by the headline, then read the story and realized that the Catholic Church had not spoken. Furthermore, the story of that lobby group supporting the constitution is an old one as are all those statements by various other groups. The developments at EUObs have not been good.
I've just noticed that the silly bastards have called the Pope Benedict the XXIV. Not XVI ignorant twits.
So what *does* the Pope (the real Pope) actually say about this whole thing?
Sensibly he says very little
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