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Get Religion

Jim Davis

Gotta hand it to Agence France-Presse. Its story on the Rev. Krzysztof Charamsa neatly packs two distortions in one lede.

In advancing Charamsa’s interview with a TV channel, the article starts off limping:

Rome (AFP) – A high-ranking Polish priest who was fired after coming out as gay before the Vatican’s key synod on the family said on Sunday that there was no “gay lobby” in the Church.

Krzysztof Charamsa told a private Italian television channel that he has “never met a gay lobby in the Vatican”, referring to rumours of a network of homosexual priests.

“I met homosexual priests, often isolated like me… but no gay lobby,” said Charamsa, adding that he also met gay priests who were “homophobes” and had “hatred for themselves and others”.

You could almost use this story for a seminar on how not to write news.

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