The Vatican and the trolls

Or: Is Cardinal Fernandez spending too much time online?

Having attended the Rome press conference at which Cardinal Fernandez presented the new statement on Marian titles, @deliavatican makes several interesting observations:

• The press conference did not take place at the Vatican press office, but at Jesuit headquarters. Cardinal Fernandez explained this was because the document “did not lend itself to dialogue between journalists and the Dicastery.” In other words he wasn’t taking any questions. But the unusual venue allowed a walk-in observer to disrupt the proceedings, shouting at the cardinal. Gallagher concludes: “I suspect Cardinal Fernandez will be back at the Press Office for any future documents.”

• Cardinal Fernandez quoted from the 1996 statement by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who had addressed the same questions about Marian titles. Fernandez said that the 1996 study “concluded with a response which they did not make public,” so he was making it public now. Having we heard this line before: that the Vatican is releasing a statement based on a study that was made in the past, and never made public— and still isn’t made public— but trust us, this is what it said? Gallagher thought of the obvious question, which the ground rules (see above) prevented her from asking: “why did Ratzinger choose not to make his decision public and Fernandez now thinks the moment is ripe?”

• But perhaps most interesting of all is Gallagher’s observation that Fernandez “is bothered by ’some groups of Marian inspiration’ on the Internet who are disturbing the faith of ordinary Catholics.” In other words he felt the need for an official statement because of the online activities of a small cadre of Catholics who were— and still are— promoting the use of the Marian titles in question. Not coincidentally, those online activists are tradition-minded Catholics, and Gallagher suggests that “a large part of the reason for this document is that Cardinal Fernandez is inordinately bothered by traditional Catholics.” Again we’ve heard this theme before.

Now to be fair it is true (and here I’m speaking for myself) that a handful of online troublemakers seem to take delight in the fact that Protestants are leery of terms such as “Co-redemptrix,” and rather than explaining how the term should be properly understood, instead taunt those Protestants, rejoicing in their discomfort. These folks (fortunately few in number, but noisy) do more harm than good for their own cause, and certainly do no honor to Our Lady by their anti-evangelization.

Still it is disturbing that a few online trolls could prompt an official statement from a Vatican dicastery— a statement that dismays and offends so many loyal, faithful Catholics, and makes them fear— not without reason— that Vatican officials see them as their adversaries, as “these people” whose views must be suppressed.