BBC uncritical of manufactured outrage

The Holy Father has cancelled a planned visit to Rome's La Sapienza University after protests from 67 (of the 4000) members of the faculty. They have protested at his 1990 address concerning Galileo in which he quoted a philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend who said that the verdict on Galileo's was "rational and just". In fact, Cardinal Ratzinger was contrasting the "agnostic sceptic" Feyerabend's "drastic" view with the more nuanced view of "romantic marxist" Ernst Bloc in order to illustrate "modernity's doubts about itself" (NCR has a translation of the address)

You could put all this down to the fact that in a university with 4000 professori, it is possible that 67 of them would be unable to read a short text and understand it. True though that may be, it is more likely that this is just more manufactured secularist outrage.

The BBC report, presenting a "Janet and John" version of the condemnation of Galileo, does not find it necessary to give any context to the quotation. This is true to form: see Lifesite: BBC, NY Times and Guardian Appear to Have Stage-Managed Muslim Anti-Pope Hatred. It is no surprise to find that the BBC offers an entirely uncritical presentation of this latest ludicrous protest.

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