BALTIMORE (MD)
Religion News Service
David Gibson | November 11, 2014
BALTIMORE (RNS) Much of the private discussions at the fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have focused on how the American hierarchy can shift its priorities to better track those of Pope Francis, especially on social justice issues such as poverty and immigration.
But what they’d really like to do is channel the pontiff’s media mojo.
“With Pope Francis, we are tending to be identified by what we are for rather than what we are against,” said Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Coyne of Indianapolis, who was elected Tuesday (Nov. 11) to oversee the bishops’ communications strategy.
In fact, since the moment he was elected pope last year, Francis changed the entire media narrative about the Vatican — from a source of scandal and dysfunction under Benedict XVI to the launchpad for Catholic reform and renewal based on a message of mercy.
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