Our friend David Rutz at the Washington Free Beacon caught and tweeted this political lede from The Washington Post on Wednesday morning, that Pope Francis was the "world's moral counterpoint" to Trump's apparently immoral nationalism:
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis welcomed President Trump to the cradle of Roman Catholicism on Wednesday, delivering a message of peace even as the pontiff emphasized his role as the world’s moral counterpoint to the president’s nationalist agenda.
My first thought at this piece by Karen DeYoung, Philip Rucker, and Anthony Faiola was: Say, how did the Post start its story when Obama met Francis at the Vatican on March 27, 2014? Was he the "world's moral counterpoint to the president's abortion agenda"? Of course not.
But on page A-1 on March 28, 2014 was an Anthony Faiola story hoping the Vatican was shredding the Bible:
In Italy, gay Catholics feel the 'Francis Effect'
Liberal priests in Italy are pushing boundaries, believing Pope Francis has their back.
FLORENCE, Italy - The power of the Catholic Church in Italy has compelled thousands of gay men and lesbians to live in the shadows, and the opposition of bishops helped make this the only major nation in Western Europe without broad legal rights for same-sex couples. But gay Catholics here now speak of a new ray of light from what they call "l'effetto Francesco."
The Francis Effect.
On Thursday, President Obama met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, at a time when the new pontiff is upending church conventions and opening new doors. In their first face-to-face encounter, the two leaders - who have sought to bring change to their respective offices - focused on issues ranging from growing inequality to the challenges of global conflicts.
But for the pope, perhaps no one issue illustrates his divergence from tradition more than early signs of rapprochement between the church and gay Catholics.
The Left has been disappointed on that front as he later "rejected outright" gay marriage. There was a second story from then-Post White House reporter Scott Wilson:
ROME — President Obama joined Pope Francis on Thursday at the Vatican, a meeting of two world figures with radically different politics but a shared concern that the global economy is dangerously dividing rich and poor.
They noted "radically different" politics on some issues, but spent the story mostly talking about unity. That came on page A-7, alongside a story by Pamela Constable headlined "U.S. Catholic leaders hope church's actions can revive immigration reform."
American Catholic leaders are hoping that President Obama's meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday will strengthen his resolve to soften U.S. policy on deportations, and that the pontiff's call for compassion toward migrants will also bolster the prospects for immigration reform, now stalled in Congress.
Church officials have staged several high-profile events to reinforce the pope's message. On Wednesday, a delegation led by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez brought the young daughter of a man facing deportation to meet the pope at the Vatican. Next week, a group of bishops led by Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley will visit the U.S.-Mexican border and celebrate Mass for migrants in Nogales, Mexico.
As usual, the liberal media opposes separation of church and state, unless you're helpful to liberal objectives. This pope is much more amenable to the media's tastes.
