"I hear that closely following the news available on the internet...
...would have made it possible to obtain knowledge of the problem in time. I learn from this that we at the Holy See have to pay more careful attention to this news source in the future." So writes His Holiness Benedictus Pp. XVI in response to the fallout following the Lefevbrist de-excommunications. The New Liturgical Movement has posted the complete English translation of the Pope's letter to the world's bishops.
In the long run, the chatter that fills the secular press is irrelevant to the ideal that the Pope incorporates, but the Vatican's communication strategy has been so inept of late that its message ends up getting lost or drowned out by the noise and this has its price. The editor of Catholic World News, Philip F. Lawler, put it perfectly: "The Vatican's awkward approach undermines the church's ability to teach, distorts the impressions that outsiders receive and complicates the lives of faithful Catholics who are put in the unenviable position of defending or explaining — as in Williamson's case — the indefensible." First step: The Holy See should pay more attention to the internet in the future.
