Always the Same
To believe that the Papacy is not fundamentally changing for the better is regarded by many as overly cynical. But those who are familiar with the workings of Rome would agree with this view – for example, relatively objective journalists who cover the Vatican.
Nicole Winfield, Vatican correspondent for the Associated Press, who is a Roman Catholic, is so regarded. Anthony Hatcher, Associate Professor of Communications at Elon University, North Carolina, believes that “she is tougher and more balanced than most of the Italian press”. At the Vatican, she has covered three Popes, including the present one, and has, we are told, “unique insights into each papacy”.
In a recent address to the Society of Professional Journalists in Elon, she said that some of the Pope’s quotes have been misconstrued by many to make him seem like “something other than a conservative Catholic”. She added, “Don’t let Francis’ positive appeal mislead you; he’s a conservative Catholic. He doesn’t care for a lot of ‘small-minded rules’, but there are some rules that form the core of Church doctrine. Those won’t change. He is still against abortion and gay marriage.”
In any case, Rome will continue to live up to her motto, Semper Idem (Always the Same). Apparent changes which took place at, say, the Second Vatican Council, were not changes for the better but strategic steps to entrench the Papacy’s position further. The leopard’s spots remain. NMR