“The Catholic Church is going to own the month of April.” That’s what I told Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on April 2, the day Pope John Paul II passed away. Events soon validated my point.

I was speaking at the University of Notre Dame on March 31 when news reports about the impending death of the pontiff blanketed every radio and TV station, and by night’s end CNN interviewed me on the campus. The next morning, before heading back to New York, Don Imus interviewed me. The pope died the next day, and as fate had it, I was in the Fox News studio when the news broke. It was my good fortune to be in a position to comment on the legacy of Pope John Paul the Great before millions of viewers at this tragic moment.

The Catholic Church would “own the month of April” because of the events attendant to the pope’s funeral, and the selection of the new pope. Both proved to be an awesome experience, commanding the attention of people of every faith, as well as the faithless. The actual hard news coverage of these events was very positive, and we said so. What was not so positive was the response of some pundits and activists.

Not included in this report are the insulting comments made about Pope John Paul II by British transplant Christopher Hitchens. That’s because MSNBC-TV decided, quite rightly, not to air what Hitchens said about the pope during the week of the pontiff’s funeral. Hitchens, an inveterate Catholic-basher, made his attack during the course of an exchange with me. After he slammed the pope, I returned fire, and with that the angry polemicist went ballistic: he pulled his mike and went stomping out of the studio.

The elevation of Joseph Ratzinger to the throne of St. Peter was greeted with joy by most Catholics, but it triggered howls of protest from the alienated. Pope Benedict XVI was no stranger to Catholic circles, and it didn’t take long before his friends and foes would lock horns. The Catholic League, of course, rallied to his side without reservation. What bothered us was the extent to which non-Catholics jumped into the fray condemning the new pope. The audacity of these meddlers was mind-boggling.

The death of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist occasioned another media blitz. Who would take his place? What judicial philosophy would he or she entertain? Would any precedents be overturned?

When President George W. Bush named John Roberts to the high court, it was good news for those who prefer a more constrained court, and bad news for those who prefer a more activist court. We were pleased not only because Roberts respects the limits of judicial power, but because he is a practicing Roman Catholic who respects the teachings of the Magisterium.

It was Roberts’ religion, as much as his views, that drove his critics mad. The things said about him demonstrated the vibrancy of anti-Catholicism in the U.S. today. That those who fancy themselves as “progressives” made the most vitriolic remarks is par for the course: many of them are among the nation’s biggest anti-Catholic bigots.

Pretty much the same ones who attacked Roberts attacked Samuel Alito, a fellow Roman Catholic who was chosen after Bush’s first choice, Harriet Miers, withdrew her name from consideration. Political partisanship derailed Alito’s hearing until 2006, but that didn’t stop efforts to mobilize the grass roots on both sides of the aisle. In this regard, the events of “Justice Sunday I” and “Justice Sunday II” loomed large.

It was the leadership of two prominent evangelicals, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, that was responsible for the “Justice Sunday” events. The purpose of these ventures was to rally support for religious liberty, judicial restraint and fair treatment of President Bush’s nominees. By extending an invitation to me, Dobson and Perkins were sending a clear signal that the time had come for Catholic and Protestant traditionalists to join forces. I welcomed the bid and enthusiastically endorsed their efforts.

The first “Justice Sunday” event was held in April in Louisville, and the second was in Nashville in August. The turnout was massive: thousands attended in person, and some 70 million viewers were able to access the events live on TV. More important, our adversaries took note of what was happening, and they were none too pleased with the burgeoning Christian alliance. As I said in my remarks, Christians of a more traditionalist persuasion were not prepared to assume a second-class status vis-à-vis radical secularists. Not only would we not sit in the back of the bus any longer, we were ready to take control of the wheel!

And take control we did. Case in point: three TV shows in 2005 proved to be as vile as anything we’ve ever seen. The good news is that in each case our protest led the offending media outlet to cancel plans to rerun the objectionable episodes.

Playing fast and loose with the Eucharist is not something we take lightly, and that is why we registered a complaint with NBC for airing the February 22 episode of a sitcom, “Committed.” In that particular show, two non-Catholics were mistakenly given Holy Communion at a Catholic funeral. The Protestant and Jewish male characters made several failed attempts to get rid of it, and finally wound up dumping it on a tray of cheese and crackers. The priest character, ever the boob, was portrayed as not knowing the difference between the Host and a cracker. By far the most offensive scene occurred when the young men accidentally flushed what they thought was the Host down the toilet.

The only good news about this case is that our complaint was handled swiftly and honorably by a high-ranking NBC official. Agreeing that what was aired was indefensible, he officially retired the episode.

Bad as that episode was, it was nothing compared to what Penn and Teller did to Mother Teresa, or what “South Park” did to Our Blessed Mother. In both of these instances, an explicit intent to harm the sensibilities of Catholics was evident.

At the end of May, I told the media that “In the 12 years that I have been president of the Catholic League, I have never witnessed a more vicious attack on Catholicism than what appeared this week on the Showtime program, ‘Penn and Teller.'”

I was referring to the “Holier Than Thou” episode that aired May 23, 24 and 27. It painted Mother Teresa as a cruel, exploitative and dishonest nun who ripped off the poor while feigning service to them. Those responsible for this hate-filled attack stopped at nothing: “Mother F—ing Teresa” is what they called her, and what they said of the nuns who worked with her was even more disgusting. All this was said about one of the most revered persons in the history of India, and one of the most respected persons the world has ever known.

We mailed a tape of select portions of this broadcast to many interested parties, including the bishops. We held a press conference outside the New York hotel where Viacom (which owns Showtime) was holding its annual stockholders meeting, and we launched a nationwide campaign demanding that Viacom initiate a probe into what happened.

We didn’t get exactly what we wanted, but we didn’t walk away empty handed, either. Officials at Viacom got the message and decided never to rerun this particular episode. If they had any decency, they would have publicly condemned what happened.

Public condemnation is what we sought from Joseph Califano, Jr., the prominent Catholic public servant who sits on Viacom’s board of directors. This time it wasn’t Showtime, it was Viacom’s Comedy Central that was the offender. The show: “South Park.”

On December 7, the eve of the Immaculate Conception, and on the feast day itself (as well as two days after that), “South Park” took dead aim at the Virgin Mary in its “Bloody Mary” episode. It depicted a statue of the Virgin Mary spraying blood from her vagina at Pope Benedict XVI.

This is not humor. Mel Brooks gives us humor. This is hate speech. It is done intentionally to be injurious. It is the work of evil.

To his credit, Joe Califano wasted no time condemning this attack. At year’s end, Comedy Central decided not to rerun the episode. Then word got out that they were bowing to pressure from the Catholic League, so the bigots said they might rerun it at another time. We’ll see.

It is not just the persons responsible for “South Park” that are sick, it’s the hard-core segment of their audience. We know because when the media picked up the initial story that “Bloody Mary” would not be rerun, we got deluged with the most incredibly obscene hate mail. We pay no attention to what these young men have to say about us (it’s obvious from reading the mail who they are), but when they attack the Virgin Mary, that’s a different story.

Sometimes we have to try and try again before extracting an apology. Such was the case when a commentator for the ABC-TV affiliate in Seattle, KOMO, offended Catholics and then dug in his heels when we sought an apology. We finally got one, but not without a struggle.

Ken Schram is another one of those middle-aged media personalities who was “raised” Catholic. In his mind, that gives him a right to stab the Church with impunity. Commenting on a piece of public art that depicted a naked man reaching for a naked boy, Schram opined that “The sculpture might as well as be called the priest and the altar boy.”

Our correspondence with Schram proved how clueless he was. He was trying to lecture us about the problem of molesting priests in the Catholic Church, as if the few who have been found guilty somehow gave him the right to libel the more than 42,000 priests nationwide.

After getting the run-around by ABC, we finally got hold of Schram’s boss in Seattle. When he proved to be almost as clueless, we contacted the station’s corporate owner, Fisher Communications. Then we got the apology we were seeking.

Cases like the Seattle one are usually one-time stories. But we also have our perennials, issues that pop up every year—like the attempts to smear the good name of Pope Pius XII.

For the first two decades following the end of World War II, Pope Pius XII was almost universally hailed by Christians and Jews alike for the good work he did saving Jews from Hitler’s armies. Things began to change in the 1960s when a fictional account of the pope’s efforts, written by an anti-Catholic German, sought to blame him for being ineffectual. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that the anti-Pius crusade reached its crescendo. No longer content to charge Pius with passivity, the new critics came up with tags like “Hitler’s Pope.”

Fortunately, 2005 witnessed the publication of two important volumes debunking the prevailing mythology about Pope Pius XII. We are proud to say that the Catholic League bought hundreds of copies of each book, distributing them free to Catholic university libraries, as well as to many other institutions.

The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII was edited by Jody Bottum and Rabbi David Dalin. It contains some of the most cogent essays ever written on the subject, penned by authors who are well acquainted with attempts to distort the pope’s noble record. Rabbi Dalin released his authoritative work, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope, in late summer, and it quickly became a hit. Together, these books provide the intellectual ammo that is needed to combat the anti-Pius crowd.

These books also gave the Catholic League something to lean on when we challenged a flawed decision made by those associated with National History Day (NHD). The flier for a 2006 NHD event invited college students to enter a contest on the subject of “Taking a Stand in History: People, Ideas and Events.” It said, “The student might choose an NHD topic involving a situation where a person or group failed to act. For example, what were the circumstances leading to Pope Pius XII’s decision not to oppose Adolph Hitler before and during World War II?”

Such presumption about such a contentious issue struck us as untoward. We registered a complaint, citing the two aforementioned volumes, along with another new book, Buried by the Times, that took the New York Times to task for doing next to nothing to protest the Holocaust. And indeed we even quoted two editorials from the New York Times that commended Pope Pius XII for not being silent—like everyone else—during the war! We got an apology from the top NHD official, and the offending “example” was deleted from its promotional material.

As the year came to a close, we received more apologies. One came from Wal-Mart, the other from Lands’ End. In both instances, Christians were unnecessarily offended: statements about the origins of Christmas, written to justify the dumbing-down of the federal holiday by the two retailers, were quickly denounced by the Catholic League. The situation with Wal-Mart was so bad that we called for a boycott. Within 48 hours, we got an apology and the offending statement was excised; the person who wrote it was fired.

We got a whole lot of press at Christmastime over a comment I made criticizing President George W. Bush for sending a “Holiday” card that made no mention of Christmas. Actually, when I received my card in the mail, I was not initially offended, and that’s because I assumed that all presidents authorized generic cards at Christmas. Then I learned that this was not true.

In fact, every president from FDR to Bush I had sent at least one card that explicitly mentioned Christmas while he was in office (the last being in 1992). It bothered me that the president was following President Bill Clinton’s precedent of sending only generic cards, and not the precedent that his father honored. “This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture.” That’s what I told the Washington Post, and that’s what wound up on the front page. The media had a lot of fun with that one.

The administration’s decision to adopt a neutered holiday card may have been a poor one, but it was certainly not anti-Catholic; this explains why there is no mention of it in “The Findings” section of this report. But the other incidents that I’ve discussed, and many more, are recounted. We’ve also included a smattering of cartoons that we felt crossed the line. And acts of vandalism, some of them very ugly, are contained herein.

In addition to our usual sections covering activist organizations, the arts, business/workplace, education, the media and miscellaneous items, this year we decided to group the anti-Catholicism that accompanied three events: a) the death of Pope John Paul II, and the selection of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, b) the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, and c) the attacks on Christmas. Readers can find them grouped, respectively, under “Papal Polemics,” “Ripping Roberts” and “The War on Christmas. This should facilitate the work of students, researchers and journalists.

After reading this report, some will say that we are too sensitive. Others will say our response was too timid. That’s fine by us—we don’t shy from criticism. Indeed, we hope to learn from some of our more astute critics. At the end of the day, though, we are forced to decide what constitutes anti-Catholicism, and what does not. As always, we try to distinguish between mere disagreements with the Catholic Church, and attempts to disparage it. The former is of little interest to us; the latter is what drives us.

Lastly, we make no attempt to weigh the motive of the offender. Why? Because in most cases it is impossible to discern with any degree of certainty what the intent was. What matters for us is effect. To put it differently, we must decide whether the outcome is sufficiently noxious as to qualify as bigotry.

William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President

January 3
Madison, WI—In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a 2002 suit brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The panel found that the city of La Crosse’s sale of its Ten Commandments monument to the Fraternal Order of Eagles (the monument’s original donor) was constitutional. The anti-religion group wants to excise religious expression from the public square.

March 9
New York, NY—A U.S. Court of Appeals decision granted AmeriCorps teachers the right to teach in religious schools, so long as they provide instruction in non-religious subjects. If they do provide religious instruction, the hours worked will not count toward their service hours and they may not wear the AmeriCorps logo. The ruling disappointed the Anti-Defamation League, which challenged the program on constitutional grounds.

March 29
San Francisco, CA—The “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” a group of gay men who dress as nuns in outrageous costumes, held a “Hunky Jesus” contest at Dolores Park. The winner was “Viva Las Jesus,” a man dressed in a gold loincloth.

April 7
Tangipahoa Parish, LA—The ACLU asked a judge to jail or hold the school board in contempt because a community member recited a prayer over the PA system before a high-school baseball game.

April 19
Catholics for Free Choice, an anti-Catholic group, attacked Pope Benedict XVI as soon as he was named the new pontiff. Headed by Frances Kissling, the group lectured the new pope on what he must do during his first 100 days to satisfy them. Nothing short of a wholesale rejection of what the Catholic Church stands for was brazenly put forth by Kissling.

April 27
Odessa, TX—People for the American Way and the ACLU condemned a decision made by the school board of Odessa that added a Bible class to its high school curriculum. The class was passed not as a religion class, but as part of a history/literature course. Nonetheless, the two groups accused the class of promoting religion.

May 2
Planned Parenthood began a campaign to have its members give Pope Benedict XVI advice on abortion and reproduction health. Posted on its website was the following: “The ultra-conservative views of new Pope Benedict XVI pose a serious threat to the health and rights of women and girls around the world. Please write a Letter to the Editor letting the new Pope know how you feel about his dangerous stance on reproductive rights and sexuality.”

May 9
The Catholic League website was hacked and its homepage changed. The following text is some of what was posted:

PRI[11 was here
F— BUSH – F— SHARON
FREE PALESTINE – FREE IRAQ
Morocco Rulez

May 12
The Catholic League website was hacked a second time. The following text is some of what was posted:

Defaced by PRI[11!! Agauain?? Hmmm why?
well the site was defaced okay? then what?
FBI? police? LOLZ nah

May 15
Members of the Rainbow Sash Movement, a radical gay activist organization, entered churches across the country to protest the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality. The group’s May 2 press release said that the purpose of its presence was to “counter the lies that Pope Benedict XVI is promoting about our community”; it also said that many gays and lesbians saw the new pope as an “aggressive homophobe.”

May 19
The PAC arm of MoveOn.org, the Internet-based organization funded by George Soros, made a despicable statement on its website against the pope and American Roman Catholics. As part of its campaign protesting Republican efforts to change the filibuster rules governing Federal court appointees, MoveOnPac.org posted a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Above the picture was the following inscription:

God Already has a job….
He does not need one on the
Supreme Court
Protect the Supreme Court Rules

May 31
London, KY—A judge’s decision to offer drug and alcohol offenders the option of attending worship services instead of going to rehab or jail upset the ACLU. The group claimed that the judge raised some “serious constitutional problems.” It maintained that the judge “strays from government neutrality towards religion,” when all he did was to provide another option.

June 5
The National Secular Society asked Bob Geldof, the producer of Live8, to rescind his invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to attend the event. The event’s purpose was to expand awareness of poverty in Africa, but the National Secular Society in its press release decided it was the proper time to attack the pope on the use of condoms:

Bob Geldof could make one big difference to the plight of Africa by demanding that the Pope immediately lift restrictions on the use of condoms. If he does not, then the million marchers ought to converge on Vatican City to condemn the Pope’s intransigence. If the Vatican accepted the invitation, the National Secular Society would do its best to ensure that everyone who is contemplating joining Live8 is made aware of the shameful part the Pope and his predecessor have played in the spread of AIDS in Africa. Involving religion in this event—especially one very controversial element of one particular religion—will change the nature of the protest. Live8 must be for everyone—it must not be hijacked by one particularly inappropriate religious personality.

June 7
The ACLU showed its bigoted colors when it protested a decision by a commissioner in Harris County, Texas naming a new 865-acre park after Pope John Paul II. The ACLU, we hasten to add, not only has no problem with schools and parks named after Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., it does not object to the holiday that honors his legacy.

June 22
Chicago, IL—A federal judge ruled that the Pentagon can no longer spend money to ready a Virginia military base for the Boy Scouts. This ruling followed an ACLU suit claiming that the Defense Department was violating the First Amendment by sponsoring the events of an organization that requires its members to swear an oath to God.

July
Catholics for a Free Choice issued “The Making of a Papacy: A Report on the First One Hundred Days of Pope Benedict XVI,” which was replete with charges that the new pope had failed to renounce Catholicism during his first 100 days. In doing so, the group confused its mission with that of the new pontiff’s.

October 13
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) president Neil Giuliano issued an alert asking his members to contact NBC’s “Today” show to protest its decision to invite Bill Donohue on the program. Giuliano accused Donohue of defaming gays and using “malicious smear tactics.” Then, on October 24, when Donohue was called by Viacom’s gay cable channel, Logo, to appear on its news program, Donohue said he would do so on condition that Giuliano agree to debate him. The invitation was granted but Giuliano said no.

October 30
Tijeras, NM—The ACLU filed suit against the village of Tijeras, NM to force it to remove a small cross from the village seal. The seal also contained a Native American religious symbol, but that was of no interest to the ACLU.

October 31
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, said the following about the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court: “Not only is the Court not representative in terms of race and gender, but also in terms of religion—with Alito, the majority of the Court would be Roman Catholics, which would underrepresent other religions, not to mentions nonbelievers.” The Catholic League quickly denounced her selective interest in proportional representation.

November 5
Abraham Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, accused Evangelical organizations and others of trying to “Christianize America.” He demonized Christian groups by charging that they were seeking to advance their “Christian worldview.” Their goal, he proclaimed, was “to Christianize America. To save us!”

December 1
Salt Lake City, UT—American Atheists filed a federal lawsuit attempting to get the state of Utah to remove steel crosses from roadways. The crosses were placed there to memorialize Utah Highway Patrol troopers who were killed in the line of duty.

January
New York, NY—The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, headquarters for the Episcopal Diocese of New York, featured a South African art exhibit by Diane Victor titled, “The Eight Mary’s.” A writer named C.J. DeStefano reported that the exhibit portrayed the Blessed Mother with “Blood cascading from between her legs, as a wire hanger dangled from her left hand. Another scene had a dog precariously positioned under her raised skirt. Mary then appears as a wash woman with clothespins attached to her naked torso. One final image is a Pieta representation where both are nude and Jesus is lying across Mary’s lap with his penis placed intentionally and prominently as a focal point.”

In response to an inquiry from the Catholic League, Episcopal Bishop of New York Mark Sisk stated that the exhibit was not “blasphemous or demeaning to religion.”

March 1
New York, NY—”Altar Boyz” opened at the off-Broadway Dodger Stages Theatre. In the play, a boy band comprised of Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham hear confessions from members of the audience and sing lyrics that included “it’s dope/to confess your sins and like the pope.” One dance routine mimicked the crucifixion.

March 7
New York, NY—”The Controversy of Valladolid,” a one-act play by Jean Claude Carriere, opened at Public Theater in New York. The play, based on a 1550 Spanish papal tribunal, attacked the Church and accused it of torturing and enslaving indigenous Americans.

March 14
New York, NY—A 35-foot statue by British artist Damien Hirst was installed in the courtyard of the Lever House building. It depicted a naked pregnant woman with skin missing from half of her body. Tendons, her skull and the baby in her womb were all visible. Etched into the statue’s base was the work’s title, “The Virgin Mother.”

March 29
New York, NY—An exhibit at the Matthew Marks Gallery of works by Robert Gober featured a headless Christ on the cross with a fountain that spewed water from his nipples. The Christ-figure was covered in diapers.

May 5
Atlanta, GA—The Susan Myers play “Wizzer Pizzer” opened at the 7 Stages Theater. It portrayed Jesus as a sexually active homosexual.

May 7
San Diego, CA— At the production of the San Diego Men’s Chorus “Life is a Cabaret,” four men dressed as nuns performed the song “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria.” At the conclusion of the song a shirtless man dressed in a blonde wig walked on stage smoking a cigarette and spat at the “nuns.”

May 27
Broward County, FL—A painting depicting President Bush being sodomized was moved after a complaint was lodged at the “Controversy” exhibit at the Broward County Art Guild. When the Catholic League asked the Art Guild to move a painting that showed Pope Benedict surrounded by swastikas to a less prominent location, the request was denied.

June 2
New York, NY—”Little Mary” premiered at the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Written by William S. Leavengood, it told the story of a bishop who wants to change the Roman Catholic Church before the world runs out of food and water. The bishop favors birth control and women priests, but an envoy from Rome is sent to get him under control. The play also features a 15-year-old girl named Christina, who is pregnant with septuplets. Nonetheless, the girl claims to be a virgin and believes the babies are God’s. She is then dubbed by the media as “Little Mary.”

June 3
Wyandotte, MI—An exhibit titled “Nuns with Bad Habits” featured six paintings from Janet Allinger, all of which depicted nuns partaking in “bad habits.” The paintings were titled “This Virgin Prefers Hers on the Rocks,” “Flying Nun,” “Hail Mary, Full of Merlot,” “Nun With a Bad Habit,” “Our Lady of the Immaculate Consumption” and “Can You Hear Me Now God?”.

June 3
Boston, MA—Christopher Durang’s play “Laughing Wild” was presented at the Wimberly Theatre. The play attacks Catholic school upbringing and religious icons. Durang is quoted about his use of the Infant of Prague as a character: “I thought it would be funny to interview this ‘entity’ on a talk show. And I wanted an ‘out of date’ religious icon to spout the church’s out-of-date, but tenaciously held onto, beliefs about why birth control is supposedly wrong.”

October 
Brooklyn, NY and Sebastopol, CA— The Sebastopol Center for the Arts and the CH’l Gallery displayed “Communion,” a chess set sculpted by the artist M.C.CAROLYN. Billed as “dealing with pedophilia within the Catholic Church and its victims,” the set depicts children and clergymen as game pieces. Priests are shown with exposed penises of exaggerated sizes while screaming boys and girls are attempting to cover their genitals with tattered clothing. Other pieces show an abuse victim attempting suicide and a clergyman called “The Groper,” who has three pairs of hands.

October
New York, NY—The Children’s Museum of Manhattan showed its bias when it refused to stage events that honored Christian holidays. For example, it featured an Hispanic Heritage Month in October, as well as a Ramadan in New York City Festival; the latter event included stories read to children about Islamic traditions. But there were no Columbus Day events for the city’s Italian Catholic community. In November, there was an Eid in New York City Festival for Muslims, but Christians got nothing for Thanksgiving. Jewish and African-American holidays (Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, respectively) were celebrated in December, but there was nothing for Christians at Christmas save for a “Festive Fruity Fondue.”

November
Poughkeepsie, NY—As part of Dutchess Community College’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the school displayed a painting by Ecuadorian-born artist Hugo Bastidas. Though the painting is simply a recreation of Michelangelo’s famous “Pieta,” the artist titled his work “Magdalene Mourning Her Lover.” When local Christians protested the display of the piece at a public school, a spokeswoman for the college claimed that the title does not necessarily imply that Mary Magdalene and Christ had sexual relations, saying it “could just as easily refer to the platonic and spiritual love for Christ.”

January 18
Dawn Eden Goldstein, a copy editor with the New York Post, was fired when it was discovered that she ran a pro-life website in her spare time. In an interview with Gilbertmagazine, Goldstein claimed that chief copy editor Barry Gross told her, “Some people already think the Post is conservative, and we don’t need New York readers also thinking it’s a Christian paper and that there are Christians working here.” She was fired two days later, after she edited a story to include the fact that “in-vitro fertilization routinely results in the destruction of embryos.”

January 28
Tempe, AZ—Outside an Oregano’s Pizza Bistro in Tucson, AZ was posted a large photograph of Pope John Paul II with a sexually suggestive message, “Chicks dig It,” written underneath. The president of Oregano’s responded to a letter from William Donohue stating that the photo was immediately taken down.

February 15 
The Catholic League contacted Hallmark about a greeting card that showed a picture of a nun saying, “I’m so excited about your birthday, I feel like doing a cartwheel.” The inside of the card read, “Oops. Better not. I just remembered it’s ‘No Underwear Day’ here at the abbey.” After being contacted by the Catholic League a Hallmark executive stated that the company would cease further production of the card.

February 17
New York, NY—A fashion show titled “Fashion in Focus” aired on the television station WNYE. In the show, models wearing clothing designed by Mark Montano walked down the runway in crowns of thorns and held their hands in prayer. Two of the models made the sign of the cross upon reaching the end of the runway.

March 17
South Florida—Several shopping malls renamed the Easter Bunny “Peter Rabbit” or “Garden Bunny” so as not to refer to a Christian holiday.

March 25
Scott Bloch, the head the Office of Special Counsel, came under attack again from the left-wing non-profit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). His offense? Hiring three graduates from the Ave Maria law school. Jeff Ruch, the director of PEER, attacked Bloch on a National Public Radio show hosted by Bob Garfield. Ruch had previously stated that “Scott Bloch’s personnel practices are taken straight from the Da Vinci Code rather than the civil service manual.”

April 17
A non-Catholic put what he claimed was a Host consecrated by Pope John Paul II up for auction on eBay. eBay officials initially defended the decision to allow the auction to continue, but later changed their policy and labeled the Eucharist off-limits for sale.

After complaints by the Catholic League, league members, and much media attention, the seller voluntarily gave the Eucharist to a priest for proper disposal.

April 26
The Paragon gift catalog featured four kitchen towels with pictures of nuns carrying drinks. The captions on the towels read “Sister Mary Merlot,” “Sister Mary Mimosa,” “Sister Mary Margarita,” and “Sister Mary Martini.” The product description stated that “Fun-loving nuns host happy hour on gentle humored kitchen towels starring sisters of the immaculate concoction.”

May 5
Washington, D.C.—A nun was denied access to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center because she was wearing her habit. A hospital administrator claimed that soldiers could be offended by seeing religious persons on their floor in the hospital.

May 10
The mail-order catalog, Favorites, advertised a night shirt featuring an angry nun holding a ruler with the caption “Sister Mary Menopause.”

June 1
Posted on the website pianoladynancy.com was a picture of three urinals shaped to look like the Blessed Mother. The operator of the website insisted that the photo was of real urinals and refused to take it off her website.

June 15
Indianapolis, IN—Two former editorial writers from the Indianapolis Star sued the paper, claiming it was “consistently and repeatedly demonstrating…a negative hostility toward Christianity.” The lawsuit claimed that the editor and publisher said editorials perceived as proselytizing or containing Christian overtones could not be printed in the paper.

June 24
Chicago, IL—An employee of the Allstate insurance company was fired after a homosexual group complained about a column he wrote for a men’s journal. The article denounced same-sex marriage, but was written at home on private time.

July 6
Treks Bicycle Corporation ran an ad during the Tour de France that featured three broadcasters identified as Bob Roll, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherman. All of them were depicted holding scratch-off tickets. Roll had a statue of the Blessed Virgin and two votive candles, but unlike Sherman and Liggett, he didn’t win a prize. Roll opined that “All my mojo, juju and voodoo and I get nothing.”

July 18
The Mississippi branch of the Bethany Christian Services adoption agency refused to allow Catholic couples to adopt children from its agency. After intense media pressure, led by the Catholic League, the Bethany’s Mississippi board members voted unanimously to accept applications from Catholic families.

August
Noble Works, Inc., a Hoboken, NJ-based card company, distributes a line of what it calls “outrageous” cards called “Extras.” A good number of the cards mocked Jesus, and one depicted the Holy Family in the manger with a caption above the Blessed Mother that read, “Immaculate Schmaculate. That f***king hurts!” After a Catholic League member registered a complaint with the president of the company, he wrote back saying, “How about we leave my silly cards aside for a little while and go examine some of your priest ‘private’ lives and practices?”

August 3
Augusta, GA—A sign outside a bar stated “CATHOLIC SCHOOLS HAVE THE BEST SEX EDUCATION.” Catholic League member Mel Le Pan fought back, putting out a news release voicing his objection to the sign. After a local news station covered the story, the sign was removed.

September 3
The company T-Shirt Hell sells shirts that are offensive to Catholics, gays, blacks, women, immigrants, Native Americans, Jews and the handicapped. Some of the most offensive shirts that attack Catholicism include:
* “Mary Was Only A Virgin If You Don’t Count Anal.” The shirt has a picture of Mary holding a Scared Heart of Jesus, with her finger to her lips.
* “ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG.” This shirt shows an old Pope John Paul II flashing a rock-and-roll hand gesture.
* “JESUS DID IT FOR THE CHICKS!” This shirt has a drawing of a crucified Jesus giving the thumbs-up gesture.
* “MOTHER F—-ING TERESA.”
* “CATHOLIC BOYS start much too early.” The picture shows a priest standing behind an altar boy.
* “Molested by a NUN.” The word priest is crossed out and NUN is stamped in as a replacement.

September 19
Elder-Beerman department stores (a division of Bon-Ton Stores) removed an offensive t-shirt after the Catholic League wrote the chairman of the company. The shirt in question featured the phrase “Who Can Resist a Catholic Girl” encircled by Rosary beads.

October 5
The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an advertisement by the law firm Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Schleifer, Weinstein & Winkler seeking victims of sexual abuse, but only victims of priests. The ad read: Legal Counsel to VICTIMS OF PRIEST SEXUAL ABUSE.

October 12
Two doctors were sued because a woman claimed that they violated California’s anti-discrimination laws. On religious grounds, the doctors refused to artificially inseminate the lesbian. The Superior Court ruled that the doctors could not use religious grounds as a defense. The California Medical Association first backed the doctors but later changed its position after a gay group complained.

December 5
An obscene ad for a statue of the Virgin Mary was accidentally published by a Catholic magazine. The statue, “Extra Virgin,” was the work of an admitted enemy of the Catholic Church from England. It showed the Virgin Mary standing atop a serpent wearing a delicate veil of latex.

This cartoon obscenely assaults Our Blessed Mother, Jesus and the pope. That a mainstream newspaper would dare to print this shows how debased the journalism industry has become. (San Francisco Chronicle, March 9, 2005)

The assessment of U.S. seminaries by the Vatican focused on seminarians, not priests or bishops. The point was to assess whether homosexual behavior was a problem in the seminaries. This cartoon by Tony Auth unfairly portrays the Vatican as being obsessed with homosexuality, to the exclusion of other issues. (Philadelphia Inquirer, September 16, 2005)

Some of those who desperately wanted Terri Schiavo to die went so far as to demonize those who fought for her right to life. This cartoon by Jimmy Margulies maliciously paints Terri’s advocates as religious zealots who are out of touch with reality. (The Record [NJ], June 17, 2005)

This cartoon portrays the new pope as a tyrant bent on purging the seminaries of homosexuals. The fact is the Vatican ordered an assessment of U.S. seminaries on a range of subjects, one of which dealt with sexuality. Just as colleges are accredited by national academic associations, the seminaries are periodically assessed by the Vatican. The cartoon, of course, puts a bigoted spin on the process. (Between the Lines, October 13, 2005)

St. Paedophilia’s. A bishop who is on a witch-hunt against homosexuals. A seminarian who gawks at a child. Add this to the anti-Catholic portfolio of cartoonist Oliphant. (syndicated, 12-10-05)

In the above cartoon, the selection of the pope is portrayed as being a misogynist, hypocritical exercise, laced with mutilation and erotica. While the cartoon lacks coherence, and its message is poorly expressed, the intent is clear. (San Francisco Chronicle, 4-20-05)

January
Washington, DC—Richard Sternberg, a prominent researcher at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (and a practicing Catholic), was punished by the Smithsonian for publishing a scholarly article by a prominent biologist, Stephen Meyer. Meyer, who holds a doctorate in the philosophy of biology from Cambridge, is a leading proponent of Intelligent Design. Sternberg, who serves as managing editor of the museum’s nominally independent journal, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, was banned from his office for publishing the review/essay by Meyer.

Sternberg told WorldNetDaily.com that his supervisor informed him, “There are Christians here, but they keep their heads down.” After inquiring what religious organization Sternberg belonged to, Smithsonian Zoology Department chairman Jonathan Coddington denied him access to his office and to specimen collections Sternberg needs for his research. Coddington told Sternberg in a complaint, “Yes, you are being singled out.” Sternberg filed a religious discrimination complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. The Special Council office found his claim meritorious, but lacked the jurisdiction to pursue the matter.

January 24
Baton Rouge, LA—Six Louisiana State University students were arrested on charges of vandalizing thousands of crosses that had been erected on the campus parade ground by the college’s Students for Life. The St. Mary and St. Joseph Memorial Foundation, which had been loaning Students for Life the crosses for 10 years, filed civil charges against the six students. Replacement costs for the crosses were estimated at $9,000.

February 18
Toledo, OH—A Christian rock band’s scheduled performance at Rossford High School’s anti-drug assembly was canceled. The school board said they feared a lawsuit over having the religious band play. Members of the band had previously stated that they were not going to perform any songs that made reference to religion.

March 9
Lemon Grove, CA—The principal of Palm Middle School removed Kathy Villalobos from her position as an instructor for the Dance Exploration class. Ms. Williams informed Ms. Villalobos that the religious music she used for instructing students was “offensive” to others “now” and “potentially” in the future. Ms. Williams further stated that the music was inappropriate and possibly “went against school standards.” The person who complained about the music was not a student or a parent of a student, merely someone who was upset by hearing Jesus mentioned in a song. Ms. Villalobos was originally asked to secure a waver from the children in the class for their parents to sign. However, on March 16 she was terminated from the school.

Spring
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh District issued a preliminary injunction stating that Southern Illinois University at Carbondale cannot deny official recognition to a Christian club on campus. The Christian Legal Society’s university privileges were revoked during the fall semester after the university decided the group’s stance on homosexuality violated antidiscrimination laws.

March 31
Pittsburgh, PA—A photo display at Point Park University by Tom Altany used Twinkies as stand-ins for Christ and the apostles in a representation of “The Last Supper.” Altany, chair of the 24-photo show, said some have suggested his work might be sacrilegious, a charge he denied. “After 24 years of Catholic schooling, I’m not looking to do that,” he said. “I’m looking to have fun.” The display ran through Lent and the Easter holiday.

April 1
Marquette, MI—The Southern Blow is the April Fool’s Day edition of the weekly Northern Michigan University newspaper, The North Wind. There was an article headlined, “Listen Up, it’s The Big J.C.,” presented as an open letter from Jesus to his followers telling them to relax, and not take things too seriously. The piece disrespected the apostles by saying that “they were just some Galilean mo-fo’s I hired to write wise crap about me.” The Ten Commandments were referred to as the “Ten Have-no-fun-ments.” The article told people to lighten up and that “you’re going to make it, I guarantee” (referring to getting into Heaven). It continued, “It’s not like I have any say in it. I only got nailed to the freaking cross for the good of all stupid human kind. But whatever…”

April 1
Hershey, PA—The April Fool’s Day edition of the Hershey High School newspaper featured an article titled “God vs. Satan” about a showdown between the two. God says, “I accept cash gifts and songs addressed to His Lordship.” He also says, “We’ve got our fair share of hottie angles…we’ve claimed…Madonna (Mary got a kick out of ‘Like a Virgin’ and threw in a good word.)”

April 14
El Paso, TX—Texas’s Ysleta Independent School District proposed a new dress code for the 2005-2006 school year that barred t-shirts and other clothing with religious pictures.

William Donohue wrote the Ysleta Independent School District superintendent, Hector Montenegro, relaying his objections to the policy and how it violates a 1997 ruling of the United States Court for the Southern District of Texas. The school district then amended part of its dress code to allow for the wearing of clothing with religious messages.

April 23
Kent, WA—A Christian group ran into difficulty attempting to gain funding at a high school that okayed a homosexual club. The ACLU attempted to block the funding.

April 29
Boca Raton, FL—The Florida Atlantic University Curriculum Committee accepted a proposal for a class titled, “The Unholy Trinity.” The course was advertised as one that addresses various religious symbols that are allegedly divisive. The instructor was a playwright with no background in history.

May 3
Philadelphia, PA—The parent of a kindergartner was denied the right to read her child’s favorite book, the Bible, to her class during “Me Week.” “Me Week” is when the child picks her favorite book and has her parent read it aloud to the class. The mother sued the school district, school board, superintendent and the principal for discrimination. She cited the fact that the school allowed readings on Judaism and that the dreidel game was taught to students. The Star of David and menorah were also placed on a calendar and song book. Students at the same school were prohibited from making Christmas decorations.

May 10 
Frenchtown, NJ—A second grader at the Frenchtown Elementary School in western New Jersey was prohibited from singing a religious song at a talent show; administrators felt it was inappropriate. Even the ACLU said this was a free speech issue.

May 12
Knox County, TN—The principle of the Karns Elementary School barred students from reading the Bible during recess.

May 27
Terrytown, LA—The principle of the Terrytown Elementary School attempted to ban the song, “I Can’t Give Up Now,” from a talent show because of the lyric “I don’t believe he brought me this far to leave me.” The principle believed that “he” referred to God, which is why she objected.

May 30
Napa, CA—Some students at Napa High School objected to a mural, painted by a student, that depicted a castle in the sky. The objecting students said the painting looked too religious.

May 31
Yakima, WA—A teacher of “Current World Problems” at Zillah High School harassed Catholic students by deriding their religion and intimidating them. The harassment got so bad that parents refused to allow their children to take the teacher’s class. The Catholic League contacted the superintendent of the Zillah School District and asked him to stop the harassment. According to a letter sent by the school superintendent, action was taken to remedy the situation.

June 3
Berkeley, CA—Rosemary Radford Ruether wrote in the National Catholic Reporter:

The recent election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI has been greeted with choruses of negative comments in the progressive communities where I teach and live. The other night a group of seminarians at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., was preparing a bonfire for a cookout on the campus. As I walked by, one invited me to share the meal, calling out cheerfully, “We’re going to burn Ratzinger in effigy.”

June 9
Brooklyn, NY—Timothy Shortell, a professor at Brooklyn College, withdrew his name from consideration as chairman of the sociology department after he came under criticism for making a bigoted statement about religion. Shortell wrote in an online publication that religious followers “are an ugly, violent lot. In the name of their faith these moral retards are running around pointing fingers.”

June 22
Colorado Springs, CO—The Air Force Academy released its report answering charges leveled by the ACLU and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that religious discrimination was taking place at the school. The report focused on 55 complaints from 13 people over a four-year period. Complaints included a flier that was placed in the dining hall advertising “The Passion of the Christ,” and the singing of “God Bless America.” Moreover, some evangelical students complained of reverse discrimination.

June 30
Novato, CA—A student at Victor Valley Community College in southern California was given an “F” on a paper for mentioning “God.” She was told by her instructor that her paper, “In God We Trust,” would offend other students.

July 27
In 2005, the National History Day announced its 2006 program, “Taking a Stand in History: People, Ideas and Events.” The flier for the event invited college students to write an essay on the topic. It said, “The student might choose a National History Day topic involving a situation where a person or group failed to act. For example, what were the circumstances leading to Pope Pius XII’s decision not to oppose Adolph Hitler before and during World War II?” Bill Donohue wrote to Professor Cathy Gorn, the executive director of National History Day, saying that this contentious claim was being presented as a historical fact. Gorn apologized for what happened, saying, “I most sincerely regret that a leading statement found its way into the information for our 2006 program.” The remark was deleted from the NHD website.

September
Tempe, AZ—Arizona State University agreed to recognize the Christian Legal Society after they reached an out-of-court settlement. The club agreed to open membership to all students, heterosexual or homosexual, just so long as they uphold the group’s religious values on sexuality.

September 20
Anna, IL—A junior high school was forced to remove a painting of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” along with two portraits of Jesus that had been on display for 50 years. The school decided it was not worth the money it would take to challenge Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

November 2
Eau Claire, WI—The University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire banned resident assistants (RAs) from leading Bible studies in their dormitories. According to the university, RAs who lead Bible studies may not be “approachable” to some students.

December
San Antonio, TX—The Atheist Agenda sponsored the “Smut for Smut” program, offering students at the University of Texas-San Antonio adult magazines in exchange for Bibles and other religious texts. The president of the organization claimed that what is really smut “is religious scripture … the stuff that says a woman is worth half a man, the things that say, you know, you should beat children.”

December 1
Lincoln, NE—The University of Nebraska-Lincoln opened its production of the Terrance McNally play “Corpus Christi.” The play depicts Christ having sex with the 12 apostles and is replete with obscene statements directed at the Catholic Church.

December 1
Auburn, AL—Auburn University’s Student Government Association renamed the university’s annual Christmas tree a “Holiday tree” in a press release announcing the tree-lighting event.

December 9
Madison, WI—Chavez Elementary School officials called off a planned third grade field trip to raise money for the Salvation Army after a parent complained. School officials called the trip unconstitutional because it was a violation of the separation of church and state.

December 20
San Bernardino, CA—California State University-San Bernardino banned a Christian organization from forming on campus because it claims the group will discriminate against non-Christians and homosexuals. The Christian Student Association’s constitution included a statement about sexual morality and it also required that members and officers be Christian.

January

Valhalla, NY—Westchester County Executive Andrew J. Spano and other officials attacked New York Medical College (which has been affiliated with the Archdiocese of New York for more than 25 years) for refusing to sanction homosexual activist groups. The Westchester Human Rights Commission launched an investigation in spite of the fact that no formal complaint was lodged.

February 17

Oakland, CA— A U.S. District Court judge upheld the decision of the Community and Economic Development Agency to remove a flier posted by two employees regarding a religious club promoting the “natural family.” The agency claimed that the flier contained “statements of a homophobic nature.” The employees started the club in response to the formation of a Gay and Lesbian Club by their co-workers in 2002.

April 15

Westchester, Bronx, Rockland Counties, NY—Pete Leon, an aide to U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, said he opposed Scott Bloch as the head of the Office of Special Counsel because Bloch “is a devout Catholic.” Engel quickly reprimanded Leon after Engel received a letter of complaint from William Donohue.

May 31

Pagosa Springs, CO—A “Stop Work Order” was posted on a Catholic bookstore by the Pagosa Springs Building Department three weeks before opening because of a technicality. Local townspeople informed the store’s proprietor that even after she obtains the proper paperwork, government agencies will continue to obstruct her quest for a bookstore.

June 9

Hartford, CT—At the close of the 2005 session of the Connecticut General Assembly, a bill was passed forcing religious organizations to recognize civil unions and to pay for partner benefits. The law would force groups like the Knights of Columbus to make their facilities available for same-sex weddings.

June 14

New Orleans, LA—New Orleans Police Superintendent Edwin P. Compass offered the security chief of the Nation of Islam an opportunity to conduct sensitivity training for the New Orleans Police force. William Donohue faxed a letter to the New Orleans City Council detailing the Nation of Islam’s anti-Catholic bigotry. The offer was immediately rescinded.

June 23

Sturtevant, WI—A prisoner was denied access to the only Catholic service that the Racine Correctional Institution offers because he was scheduled to be in a mandatory program that was taking place at the same time. The prisoner was informed that if he missed the program he would be punished. After a phone call from the Catholic League questioning the prisoner’s treatment, the assistant warden called to promise that the prisoner would be granted the right to attend Mass with no retribution.

August

Vermont—The Vermont Human Rights Commission charged a Catholic husband and wife, proprietors of a bed and breakfast, with a human rights violation. The couple had confessed their reluctance to accommodate a lesbian couple who were seeking to celebrate their civil union. The innkeepers did not refuse the lesbians; they simply said that their hearts weren’t with them.

September 14

Sacramento, CA—U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton said he would sign a restraining order banning the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in some California school districts because of the phrase, “under God.”

September 21

Philadelphia, PA—Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham released a grand jury report on cases of alleged sex abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Bill Donohue said of the report:

At bottom, Abraham is a phony. From the beginning, she had absolutely no evidence that would lead her to conduct a massive taxpayer-funded investigation of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia while not similarly investigating ministers, rabbis, public school teachers, abortion counselors, et al. Worse, Abraham has the gall to say she wants to tighten the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law yet never states that abortion counselors should be added to the “Mandated Reporters” list.

The report resulted in zero indictments. Everyone knew from the very beginning that the statute of limitations had run out on these cases and that no priest would ever be indicted, but this didn’t stop Abraham “from doing her job.”

December 10

Washington—The Washington State Democratic Party sold magnetic car stickers of the Christian fish symbol and a cross with the word “hypocrite” in the background, accompanied with flames.

December 20

New York—New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer attempted to ban the phrase “Choose Life” from special order license plates. State Assistant Solicitor General Jennifer Grace Miller told a federal appeals court that the phrase “Choose Life” might lead to road rage, but many others saw this as an attempt to muzzle the free speech of those who have a religious objection to abortion.

Ted Kennedy on Abortion: 34 Years ago

In early August, long-time Catholic League member Tom Dennelly shared with us a letter that he received from Senator Edward Kennedy in 1971. The letter, written a year-and-a-half before Roe vs. Wade, was Kennedy’s reply to Dennelly on the subject of abortion. We thought it appropo to let the news media know about the letter, and we’re glad we did: from the Internet to radio and TV, Kennedy’s one-time pro-life position was all the buzz. It is printed here.

In his statement to the press, Bill Donohue remarked as follows: “The same Ted Kennedy who once championed the rights of the unborn now champions the right of a doctor to jam scissors into the skull of an infant who is 80-percent born. Sadly for him, history will look back on this era and recognize that he didn’t care enough about human beings to take responsibility for children from the very moment of conception.”

Internet | Magazines | Movies | Radio | Newspapers |Television

INTERNET

January 13
Syndicated radio host Rabbi Shmuley Boteach accused Pope Pius XII of “mass kidnapping” of baptized Jewish children who were saved from the Nazis by the Catholic Church. He based his charge on an unsigned 1946 memo by an unknown writer that was found in a French church archive. The memo was soon discovered to be an inaccurate summary of an official Vatican document that called for the return of Jewish children to their families, even if baptized. Of Pius, Rabbi Boteach referred to “the rancid and hateful morals that defined this profound religious hypocrite.”

May 4
Landoverbaptist.org is a website dedicated to mocking the Catholic Church. The titles of articles posted on the website include, “The Shrine of The Virgin Mother’s Impenetrable Vagina” and “The Pope’s Message from Hell.” The site also features a store in which to purchase anti-Catholic buttons, T-shirts, bumper stickers and even a “Holy Thong” with a picture of Jesus on it.

May 4
Misspoppy.com, an Internet store affiliated with the Landoverbaptist.org website, offers items like “Jesus Soap-on-a-Rope,” “psychedelic Crucifix Pope” and “What Would Jesus Do?” underwear.

June 7
Benjamin Uticone wrote on the “Online Journal” website that the religious right was the Taliban, “Except for headscarves and differing opinions on the topic of pork.” He also wrote that William Donohue “ought to spend less time telling people in AIDS ravaged Africa not to use condoms, and more time making sure that your priests aren’t raping children.”

June 28
The Internet site, cafepress.com, sold a bumper sticker that read, “So Many Right-Wing Christians, So Few Lions.”

July 13
An ad appeared on the Worldnetdaily.com website for the anti-Catholic group Tomorrow’s World. The group claims that the pope is the anti-Christ and that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon. An article about the “Anti-Christ” by Roderick C. Meredith stated, “Recent news reports from many nations have indicated that Roman Catholic persecution against religious minorities continues. Although the Roman Catholic Church has learned to smile and act agreeably in nations where Protestants or others are in the majority, the old demons of hate and authoritarianism come out very quickly when it is in control.”

October
CBS producer Bruce Rheins sought a patent for a wine he called “Jesus Juice.” This is the name that pop-singer Michael Jackson used when he allegedly served wine to his young accuser. On the label of the Merlot wine is a picture of Jackson in the image of Christ on the cross. Cafepress.com was the website where he was advertising the wine before it was pulled.

MAGAZINES

March 7
Christopher Dickey wrote in the “Periscope” section of Newsweek about Pope John Paul II’s health, saying he refuses to step aside and let someone else take his place. In an article entitled, “He has Willpower—But No Living Will,” Dickey questioned why the pope continued to make public appearances while sick. Dickey also said that “Even as the aged pope’s body shuts down in the late stages of Parkinson’s disease, his will to live—and impose his will on the Roman Catholic faithful—remains as stubborn as ever.”
William Donohue responded with the following statement: “When presidents like Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt continue in office despite poor health, they are regarded as courageous, even heroic. But not Pope John Paul II—he has a duty to die. That’s because the pope, unlike presidents, stubbornly imposes his will on the people. What is really astonishing—and maybe Dickey could address this—is the extent to which this dictatorial pope is loved the world over.”

May 17
The Protestant magazine Christian Century published an editorial saying that conservative Christians are like Nazis because “the Nazis removed judges who did not follow their party platform and conservative Christians are doing the same thing.”

June
In an article published in the Archives of Dermatology, co-authored by four scientists, it was maintained that a 55-year-old man’s intestinal tract was infected with S marcescens, bacterium that produced a reddish stain on his clothes. The bacterium was also named Monas prodigiosum, “the miracle bacterium”; the first reported account of this in Denmark occurred in 1169 and was found in a bleeding host. It was also written that the bacterium “thrives on starchy matter such as polenta, bread, and sacramental wafers and apparently flourished in the damp churches of medieval times.” This was fine, but what was not was the conclusion: “No doubt, S marcescens has contributed to human death more because of religious fanaticism than because of pathogenicity.” When Bill Donohue wrote to the lead author asking her to verify this remarkable conclusion, he received no reply.

July 13
Charles Gasparino, business writer for Newsweek, attacked Pope Benedict XVI over comments that he made about the Harry Potter novels several years ago. On the MSNBC program “The Situation with Tucker Carlson,” Gasparino responded to a question posed by Carlson about calling the pontiff “insane.” Carlson followed up by questioning, “The pope is insane?” Gasparino reiterated, “I think so.” Later in the interview Gasparino stated, “Listen, if you want to know why the Catholic Church is becoming increasingly irrelevant, it’s because these guys are doing this. They’re not paying attention to the pedophiles.”

September
In the September edition of Maxim magazine, the “How To” section listed four ways to meet women at religious services, or “Score At Church.” It also featured pictures of three scantily clad women, one receiving Communion and the other two sitting in a pew. One of the women was quoted as saying “Should I confess again, Father? I just had another dirty thought.”

November
In the November issue of Atlantic Monthly there was a brief article by Tyler Cabot titled “The Rocky Road to Sainthood.” He wrote of Padre Pio, “Despite questions raised by two papal emissaries—and despite reported evidence that he raised money for right-wing religious groups and had sex with penitents—Pio was canonized in 2002.” Cabot made no mention of the fact that the priest who accused Parde Pio of sex with penitents later recanted his story and repented on his deathbed.

November/December
The November/December edition of the Chick publication “Battle Cry” contained two anti-Catholic articles. The first article, “Jesus Wafer Auctioned On Ebay; Priests Horrified,” was about three recent auctions of the Eucharist on eBay. One passage in the article snidely explained the Eucharist as follows:

So, how could a simple, round orb of wheat create such a stir? The answer is in the “consecration.” Catholicism teaches that when a priest is “ordained,” he receives the magical power to change the “substance” of the wafer into the actual “body, blood and divinity” of Jesus Christ.

The second article discussed the recent synod and how Protestants are gaining ground on the Catholic Church in Africa and Latin America. “Millions of people are discovering that they can trade the dry rituals of Catholicism for a dynamic relationship with Jesus Himself instead of depending on a harried priest to connect them to their wafer god or Virgin Mary goddess,” the article said.

December 
A JoAnn Wypijewski piece in Mother Jones magazine attacked Padre Pio and the Vatican document on gays in the seminary. She claimed that Padre Pio had “sexual dalliances with women” and was addicted to drugs when he died, but offered no documentation to support these scurrilous charges. She also accused the Church of engaging in an anti-gay witch-hunt.

MOVIES

February 2
The movie “Constantine,” starring Keanu Reeves, opened. The movie is based on the “Hellblazer” comic books about a man with the ability to recognize the half-breed angels and the demons that walk the earth in human camouflage. Constantine is depicted as being suicidal, and as one who is doomed to Hell because of his failed suicide attempt. Moreover, Constantine is alerted to a crisis by an alcoholic priest and begins performing exorcisms with a holy shotgun. According to the Scripps Howard News Service, “He’s well known to the Big Guys both upstairs and downstairs, as well as to their lieutenants, Gabriel and Balthazar.” The movie also misrepresents Catholic teaching on suicide.

February 23
The Oscars showed Hollywood’s true colors. Movies that were nominated painted positive portraits of murderers, pedophiles and abortionists while a film about religion was snubbed. Films based on perverts like J.M. Barrie (“Finding Neverland”) and Alfred Kinsey (“Kinsey”) were rewarded for spinning a positive picture of their lives, instead of telling the truth about their lifestyles. Two films were nominated based on the topic of euthanasia (“Million Dollar Baby” and “The Sea Inside”); another extolled the virtues of an abortionist (“Vera Drake”); and yet another painted a positive picture of the Latino thug, Che Guevera (“The Motorcycle Diaries”).

By contrast, Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” received three nominations for cinematography, makeup and original score, but failed to be nominated in any of the major categories.

May 20
“Kingdom of Heaven,” the film by Ridley Scott about the Crusades, depicted Christians as violent, warlike people and Muslims as the peaceful heroes. Don Feder, head of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, said it best in his review of the film:

“Kingdom is the latest in a long line of films that smear Christianity. Entertainment Weekly notes ‘the film’s prominent villains are militant Christians behind centuries of bloodshed in the medieval Middle East.’ French actress Eva Green, one of the film’s stars, predicts, ‘I think Muslims will be extremely proud and happy, because they’re seen as noble, chivalrous characters.’ Green continues: ‘Especially in this crusade, the Arab people behaved in a more noble way than the Christian people. Saladin was such a great character. He was the hero of his time.’ Any resemblance between ‘Kingdom’ and history is purely coincidental. They should have called it ‘Dances With Camels.’

“Saladin was not the noble soul portrayed in the movie, but a tyrant who presided over savage slaughters and personally beheaded captives—sort of like the founder of his religion. In the movie, when he conquers Jerusalem, the gracious Saladin gives Europeans safe conduct to Christian lands. The historical Saladin allowed Jerusalem’s defenders to ransom themselves. Those who could not were enslaved.

“But ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is more than revisionist history seeking to sanitize Islam. It’s also yet another heavy-handed indictment of religion per se, and Christianity in particular. In ‘Kingdom’ there’s an inverse relationship between decency and a commitment to Christianity. The more overly Christian a character is, the more he’s sadistic, bloodthirsty, callous, cowardly or hypocritical. On the other hand, the casual Christians are uniformly wise, generous and courageous—like the movie-land Muslims.”

William Donohue’s remarks about the film “Kingdom of Heaven” appeared in the New York Post: “Britain’s leading authority on the Crusades, professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, labeled the movie ‘rubbish,’ ‘ridiculous,’ ‘complete fiction’ and ‘dangerous to Arab relations.’ But it is being defended by the Council on American-Islamic Relations as ‘a balanced and positive depiction of Islamic culture during the Crusades.’ It is not likely that both are right, but if they are then the Muslims should be embarrassed. It is a matter of historical record that Muslim violence—in the form of a jihad—was responsible for Christians striking back, hence the Crusades. Yet in the film, it is the Christians who are the bad guys. This is on the order of doing a movie on the Warsaw ghetto and blaming the Jews for all the violence.”

July 22
Richard Linklater, the director of the remake of the “Bad News Bears,” discussed concerns he had with making sure the movie was PG-13. “We were worried about the line where Engelberg tells Billy Bob, ‘You better shut up before I tell someone you touched my pecker!’ Oooo, talking about genitalia? That’s an R! So I shot an alternate line— ‘You better shut up before I tell someone you got all Catholic on my privates!'”

September 16
Brookline, MA—The film “School of the Holy,” directed by Norifumi Suzuki, was screened at the Coolidge Theater as part of “Naughty Catholic Fantasy Night!” The movie is about a young woman who joins a convent “and as soon as the doors close, she finds herself immersed in a world of unholy sin: blasphemous rites, sadistic torture practices, burning sapphic desires, and a lecherous, god-hating archbishop who’s at the very center of this debauchery.”

Prior to the screening of the film an acoustic group called “Systyr Act” preformed. “Systyr Act” is three men dressed as nuns playing music. Also, there was a “Hot Nun Wrestling” event.

NEWSPAPERS

January 7
In the Jewish weekly the Forward, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen accused Pope Pius XII of issuing a post-World War II directive to “kidnap Jewish children, perhaps by the thousands.” The charge was based on an Italian newspaper’s discovery of an unsigned French-language document found in a French church archive. The document falsely claimed that the Vatican’s policy was to refuse to return baptized Jewish children to their families. The document was soon discovered to be an inaccurate summary of an official Vatican directive written in Italian that ordered the opposite. The Catholic League did not quarrel with calls from Goldhagen and others for a further opening of the Vatican’s archives; rather it condemned the baseless charges that the Church took part in a criminal enterprise.

January 22
Louisville, KY—The Courier-Journal, a Gannett-owned newspaper, published a full-page version of the notorious advertisement, “Earth’s Final Warning.” The ad, which calls the Catholic Church “the Mother of Harlots,” is the work of Eternal Gospel Church of West Palm Beach, Florida, a breakaway sect of Seventh Day Adventists. Courier-Journalpublic editor Pam Platt responded to complaints about the ad in a column pointing out that the newspaper has a policy not to accept advertising that “unfairly attacks, criticizes or casts reflection against any individual, firm, race, religion, organization, institution, business or profession.” Although “Earth’s Final Warning” clearly violated these guidelines, Platt wrote that “I’m not sure the ad wouldn’t have been printed” if the matter had been discussed ahead of time. She concluded: “I am genuinely conflicted about the matter.”

February 9
National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. wrote a newspaper column for Universal Press Syndicate entitled “Death for the Pope.” It began: “At church on Sunday the congregation was asked to pray for the recovery of the pope. I have abstained from doing so. I hope that he will not recover.” Later in the piece, Buckley asked, “So, what is wrong with praying for his death?” (Had Buckley simply said it was time for Pope John Paul II to resign, the Catholic League would not have objected.)

February 14
Pittsburgh, PA—A column by Dimitri Vassilaros printed in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review charged that celebrating St. Valentine’s Day in public schools constitutes a breach of church and state. The column asked, “Since public schools embrace Valentine’s message and allow their children to celebrate it, should the schools do the same for Jesus Christ?” Even Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, did not share the column’s objections about Catholicism still being thought of on St. Valentine’s Day, saying: “I think this day has been so denuded of religious significance in the culture.”

March 2
New York, NY—The March 2-8 edition of the New York Press, a free weekly paper, featured a photo of Pope John Paul II on the cover, with the headline, “THERE’S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THIS MAN DYING—OR IS THERE?” The cover story contained 52 crude and vulgar jokes about the pope’s death. They included:

* Beetles eating Pope’s dead brains.
* Gurgling sound during embalming process; real fluids in dead Pope’s body sucked out into jars.
* Doctors examining the body discover that the Pope was not only a woman, but also Hitler.
* Can’t move. Can’t reach penis.
* Throw a marble at the dead Pope’s head. Bonk!

April 9
St. Could, MN—The following two ads appeared in the “Personal Notice” section of theSt. Could Times: “DOES Jesus eat swine? Oh yes, he eats worms, rats, dogs, or anything that moves.” The other said, “WE see this Catholic nonsense on TV. Abortion? Why do Catholic girls commit fornication?” After being contacted by the Catholic League, the paper’s ad manager stated that such ads would not be accepted in the future.

May 2
Pittsburgh, PA—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Michael McGough referred to William Pryor, a nominee for the federal bench, as a “Papist puppet” in his column “Murmur in the Cathedral.”

May 4
Raleigh, NC— An ad titled “Celibate Priests” ran in the News and Observer that stated celibacy is “an unnatural aberration producing the evils presently rocking Catholicism…Isn’t it likely that a system which for so long has taught error relative to celibacy is wrong also concerning the salvation of your soul?”

May 12
Ludington, MI—The Ludington Daily News ran a column by Jim Waum that was a vicious attack on Catholicism. He called Catholic doctrine an “elaborately constructed straw house.” Waum also accused Cardinal Ratzinger, who headed Congregation of Doctrine of the Faith before being named Pope Benedict XVI, of continuing the Inquistion. In addition, the Catholic Church was blamed for the AIDS crisis. Waum concluded his piece by saying, “It’s more likely that one final straw added to the flimsy structure swaying in the wind will bring the house down under its own weight.”

May 14
The New York Times published an op-ed piece by Arthur Hertzberg, a visiting professor of humanities at New York University, that slandered three popes. He wrote that Pope Pius XII remained “Silent while Europe’s Jews were murdered.” He also charged that John Paul II taught Catholics that the “sin of letting the Holocaust happen at its doorstep need not haunt the church.” Hertzberg concluded his attack with this remarkably anti-Catholic statement: “What Cardinal Ratzinger did not do… was question the orthodox Catholic position that though individual Catholics can err morally, the church and the pope cannot. Until the Vatican reconsiders that outlook, one of the Holocaust’s greatest wounds will continue to fester—namely, the major European institution that stood for morality looked away from genocide.”

May 15
San Francisco, CA—Printed in the middle of Neva Chronin’s article, “The Father. The Son. The Holy Joke,” was the cartoon character of a woman crucified with the words, “LIVE! RUDE! GIRL!” underneath it. It appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.

May 15
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN—B.R. Simon Rosser, a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, wrote a column for the Star Tribune castigating the Vatican for its policy of banning people from Communion who wear rainbow sashes. Actually, there is no Vatican “policy” on this issue. Moreover, the sashes are meant to symbolize public dissent with the Church’s teachings on sexuality, and that is why many bishops refuse to give them Communion. But no matter, Rosser equated this with Nazism.

The last time homosexuals were ordered how to dress was by Adolph Hitler, who ordered them to wear a pink triangle prior to dentition and, in any cases death in concentration camps. Thus, this directive is particularly odious to a community that suffered under the Holocaust, even more so when coming from an ex-German solider who served under Hitler.

Rosser also stated that “the church perpetuated the largest and first truly global child sex ring in history.”

May 19
Miami, FL—Jack King, a columnist for the Sun Post, claimed in a column that the Sisters of Mercy bribed a neighborhood association so that they could build a small medical office and parking garage. He also wrote that the “new pope was a member of the Hitler Youth and he has a real problem with anyone who is not of the real white race.”

May 23
New York, NY— Nicholas Von Hoffman’s column in the New York Observer claims that Christians cannot and do not keep religion to themselves. “Like the Islamist, with whom they are brothers under the skin, they are intent on imposing a Christian form of sharia on believers and non-believers alike.” He also compared Christian missionaries to communist operatives of 50 years ago.

May 24
Los Angeles, CA—Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer dubbed the Catholic Church “one of the most sexually repressed institutions in human history” that is responsible for a “horrific drumbeat of child molestation revelations” led by a new pope who is “a longtime leader of a vicious church attacks on ‘evil’ gays.” Pope Benedict XVI was also accused of scapegoating the media.

June 5
Portland, OR—The Portland Press Herald printed five separate stories on the priest sexual abuse scandal after the Attorney General of Maine released the names of nine dead priests accused of sexual abuse. The paper showed its anti-Catholicism because some of the priests had been dead for 15 years and had no way to defend themselves against questionable accusations.

June 9
Marci Hamilton wrote in her USA Today column that the best way to stop the sex abuse crisis is to take away the Catholic Church’s tax-exempt status. Hamilton falsely claimed that “pedophile priests” were the cause of the scandal, ignoring the fact that most of the abuse was committed by homosexual priests abusing post-pubescent males.

June 17
New York, NY—In her column on Father’s Day for the New York Post, Cindy Adams suggested the following gift-giving idea: “And to your holy fathers, your parish priest, a sampler cross-stitched with: Abstinence makes the Church Grow Fondlers.”

October 6
Long Island, NY—Columnist Ed Lowe of the Long Island Press attacked Pope Benedict’s proposed policy barring active gays from the priesthood. He claimed that banning gay priests would “wipe out the Church in America.” Lowe also said, “You also may aspire to and earn the Roman collar if you are a man not sexually attracted to any element, animal or plant, in the universe, which is to say, if you are an inhuman man, an oxymoron.”

November 1
“The Roman Catholic Church could have a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court if Samuel Alito is approved to join the body” (our emphasis). That’s how the United Press International (UPI) saw the possibility of Alito joining the high court.

November 2
Wichita, KS—The Wichita Eagle printed a letter about the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court that read, “How many more Catholics does Bush intend to pack the Supreme Court with? We might as well save money by shutting down the government and letting the pope tell us what to do.”

November 9
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN—Diablo Cody’s article entitled “Finding My Religion” in City Pages discussed, “What’s a lapsed-Catholic former sex worker who doesn’t like religious dogma to do when she finds out she still believes?” The accompanying illustration, by Dan Picasso, depicted an image in which the Blessed Mother is shown with a spiked haircut, a bracelet of spikes, and a nose-ring. The Sacred Heart was on her chest, but it was pierced by a dagger and a fountain pen. It was also decorated with jewels. Cody described her Catholic upbringing as follows: “We had drunk the consecrated grape juice. We were the best kind of disciples: blindly obedient and willing to believe anything that was said in that massive red brick church with the bats in the rafters.” She added, “Well-schooled by geriatric nuns and priests whose sensibilities were formed long before Vatican II, we often invoked obscure dogma that even our parents had forgotten about.”

November 4-10
Los Angeles, CA—LA Weekly published an article by Greg Burk titled, “Virgin/Whore; The Catholic Church and women—can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.” Here’s a sample of what he wrote: “Most of the faithful worldwide, grappling against real-world pitchforks of overpopulation, tribalism, political chaos and economic collapse, are giving the big finger to Rome’s medieval pronouncements on birth control. And you might’ve heard a word or two about priests and boys—kind of a pain in the ass, not to mention the wallet. The Holy Father’s even under legal assault for molester shielding. Pity the Pope. Or, what the hell, piss on the pope. Especially if you’re a woman.” There were two other anti-Catholic articles within the same issue. One was entitled “Immigrant Women Speaking About Leaving the Church” and the other was “My Life With the Radical Nuns.”

RADIO

April 22
Syndicated radio talk-show host Tammy Bruce commented on her show that Pope Benedict XVI should admit he was in the Hitler Youth (this is not something he has ever denied, rather the pope has related that he was conscripted against his will) and said he is probably a child molester. She also claimed that the Church permitted abortions until the time of Napoleon, when Napoleon convinced the Church to outlaw it as he wanted more troops. She has no evidence to support this outrageous theory.

May 6
New York/New Jersey—The host of the Spanish radio program “El Vacilon de la Mañana” on WSKQ (la Mega 97.9) accused Monsignor Mark Giordani, pastor of John the Baptist Cathedral in the Paterson Diocese, of being a child molester despite there being no proof or even any accusation of it.

May 8
Albany, NY—Peter Berle said on his radio show that Pope “Benedict XVI could pope really well if he removed doctrinal objections to safe sex. If not, he could go down in history as the greatest threat to human health in our time.”

September 10
Los Angeles, CA—On a KABC radio talk show, listeners were urged to donate to hurricane relief efforts, but they were also warned not to give to Catholic Charities. The reason offered was that the “Catholic Church is totally corrupt and molest young boys.” An on-air apology was issued on September 24 that was satisfactory to the Catholic League.

September 29
Chicago, IL—While discussing the National Catholic Reporter’s survey on issues within the Catholic Church, sports talk-show host Mike North alleged that the Church does not want to get rid of celibacy because “they would have to give up their boys’ club.”

November 
Chicago, IL—WSCR AM 670 radio sports talk-show hosts Dan Bernstein and Terry Boers implied that all Catholic priests are pedophiles. They also stated that Catholic bishops are involved in a cover-up and that gay orgies are ongoing in the seminaries.

November 1
National Public Radio reporter Dahlia Lithwick expressed misgivings over the specter of too many Catholics being on the Supreme Court: “People are very, very much talking about the fact that [Samuel] Alito would be the fifth Catholic in the Supreme Court if confirmed.”

TELEVISION

February 22
Burbank, CA—During an episode of the NBC-TV sitcom “Committed,” a Jewish character was mistakenly given Holy Communion at a Catholic funeral. Not knowing what to do with the Host, he and his Protestant friend tried slipping it into the pocket of a priest; it was dropped on a tray of cheese and crackers. At one point, the priest, portrayed as not knowing the difference between the Host and a cracker, went to grab the “cracker” from a tray of appetizers. After initially balking when he discovered it to be the last one, he changed his mind and decided to eat it, saying, “Oh, what the hell.” The most offensive scene occurred when what was thought to be the Host was flushed down the toilet.

William Donohue immediately e-mailed Alan Wurtzel, chief executive for NBC’s Department of Broadcast Standards and Practices, asking that this particular episode never be aired again. After reviewing the episode, Wurtzel agreed to Donohue’s request.

February 17
New York, NY—The Comedy Central program, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” ran a segment entitled “This Week in God” that mocked the Catholic Church and its teachings, while poking gentle fun at Muslims and Orthodox Jews. For example, Stephen Colbert, the segment host, after reporting that the Vatican teaches that condom use is immoral, exclaimed, “What would high Catholic Church officials know about immoral sexual conduct?” The segment also featured a wheel with religious symbols on it, one of which was labeled “the Immaculate Contraption known as the God Machine.”

March 11
The program “Wonder Showzen” aired on MTV2, a sister network of MTV. The show, which is styled like the PBS program “Sesame Street,” contained gratuitous sexual references and lewd portrayals of all things Christian. In one skit, a scrolling tape reading “Catholic Church approves condom-flavored breath mints” ran across the screen during a mock newscast. The show aired seven more episodes with anti-Catholic skits in them. For example, there was a scene where an animated Bible receives oral sex from a prostitute and then a priest is shown reading from the Bible in Church. Then Jesus is shown coming down from the cross, only to begin break dancing with Church statues that have been transformed into bikini-clad blondes.

March 13
An episode of the CBS program “Cold Case” titled “Revenge” depicted a priest breaking the Seal of the Confessional when he revealed to authorities that someone confessed involvement in a kidnapping during the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The priest’s behavior was not shown to be aberrant.

April 11
A “Saturday Night Live” skit on NBC depicted a debate between cardinals for the election of the pope. While much of it was not offensive, it was uncalled for to show “Cardinal Urbino” giving the finger while making rude remarks. And a character who played Al Sharpton said of the Catholic Church, “there is not enough touching of people’s hearts and too much touching of people’s kids.”

May 1
An episode of the drama “Crossing Jordan” on NBC had an investigator looking into the death of a cloistered nun. The nun was pregnant and died during child birth. The main investigator, a lapsed Catholic, commented about the nuns: “These women have shut themselves off from the real world. They would rather hide from life than to live it.”

May 12
The Fox News Channel ran a segment on “Dayside with Linda Vester” about a Baptist minister who got in trouble for denouncing John Kerry from the pulpit. The segment used footage of a Catholic Church, Catholic nuns in habits receiving ashes, and Catholic priests bowing. The Catholic League asked producers why Catholic footage was shown during a story about a Baptist minister, and they apologized.

May 23
Showtime’s “Penn and Teller” program aired an episode titled “Holier Than Thou” that attacked Mother Teresa in a most vile way. Penn Jillette accused her of exploiting the poor and letting them suffer, providing neither beds nor bathrooms. “She had the f—ing coin and pissed it away on nunneries. They had to suffer so that Mother F—ing Teresa could be enlightened,” he said. Penn also referred to William Donohue, who appeared in the piece, as “Catholic Boy.” The program also aired May 24 and 27.

After Donohue launched a protest, he received a call from the producer of the show on July 18. She apologized profusely saying she never would have gone along with the program had she known that it was a set up to mock Mother Teresa. She said she was asked to draw up a list of questions to give to a member of the technical crew so that he could interview Donohue (the questions were not disrespectful). After the filming was completed, her involvement ended and the editing was turned over to Penn and Teller’s crew. She expressed horror at the end result and told Penn and Teller’s executives that she would never work with them again. She also informed Donohue that a decision had been made never to show this particular episode again.

On August 17, Donohue received a hand-delivered letter from Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone. Redstone defended Showtime’s airing of the show, saying Showtime “frequently airs programs with controversial, differing points of view” and that “we as an organization are committed to artistic freedom.” Redstone went further when he stated that “it is tolerance for that which may be uncomfortable, unpopular and perhaps even offensive to some that defines and protects the liberties that all of our society enjoys.” Why Showtime seems preoccupied with making Catholics feel uncomfortable—and not others—he did not say.

June 6
On “This Week in God,” a recurring segment on the Comedy Central program “The Daily Show,” Stephen Colbert commented that the Vatican traditionally waits five years after someone dies before the cause of sainthood commences. He noted, however, that Pope Benedict XVI waved it for Pope John Paul II, adding, “what are you going to do about that, bitch?” Colbert then said that the reason why Mother Teresa’s canonization has been held up was due to a film, “Mama T Goes Wild 6: Calcutta Nights.” When he said this the program showed a picture of Mother Teresa made to look like she was flashing onlookers.

July 27
The Comedy Central channel re-aired a standup appearance by comedian Dane Cook where he mocked the Eucharist and the Mass. Cook joked that he wanted more than one Host at Mass so he could take the “whole dish” and fill it with milk and eat it like cereal.

August 
The FX program “Rescue Me,” starring Denis Leary as New York firefighter Tommy Gavin, had an episode wherein Mary Magdalene and Jesus visited Tommy. In one dream sequence, Tommy has sex with Mary Magdalene. Jesus catches the pair and declares Tommy is “just like Judas,” and then shoots him. In another episode, when Tommy was worried about the fate of a young burn victim and was waiting for Jesus to appear, Mary Magdalene informs Tommy that Jesus is “full of goddamn promises”; she said she had been “waiting for a ring since three weeks before the Last Supper.”

August 17
Max Kellerman, ESPN radio host and HBO boxing host, said on the CNN show, “The Situation with Tucker Carlson,” that he has “a problem with the Vatican being considered a foreign state.” He was referring to the diplomatic immunity that was afforded Pope Benedict XVI with regards to the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. Kellerman went on to say that “If you mean to tell me—because it almost puts American Catholics in a position where they’re committing treason being Catholic. You mean to tell me that the head of a foreign state dictates the behavior of tens of millions of Americans? I have a problem with that.”

September 22
On the morning ABC talk show “The View,” Barbara Walters and her fellow co-hosts slammed the Catholic Church on the issue of sexuality and celibate priests. Walters, who is also the producer of the program, read a section of the Catholic Catechism about homosexuality and wondered aloud what the phrase “objectively disordered” meant. Co-host Joy Behar then chimed in and called the Church’s view “perverse.” Behar also asked “Why can’t you believe in God and also in sex?” During crosstalk she derided the Church again. Walters responded by saying that celibacy was “unnatural.”

September 29
Ken Schram, a commentator for the ABC-TV affiliate in Seattle, KOMO, said that a piece of art, which depicted a nude man reaching for a nude boy, should be called “the priest and the altar boy.” The Catholic League made several complaints and finally got Schram to apologize on October 7, but only after it contacted Fisher Communications, the Seattle-based firm that owns KOMO.

October 1
On the program “College GameDay,” while discussing the upcoming Purdue-Notre Dame college football game, ESPN broadcaster Lee Corso made a mock sign of the cross and said “they’ll beat the Catholics.”

October 10
On the CBS sitcom “Two and Half Men” it was asked, “Do Catholic priests make good babysitters?” The reply was, “Is the pope Catholic?”

October 18
On “Back in Black,” a recurring segment on the Comedy Central program “The Daily Show,” Lewis Black focused on organizations that have lowered their standards. He then attacked the Catholic Church by saying, “One institution refuses to lower its standards, the Catholic Church. It has started to investigate some of its seminaries for evidence of homosexuality. I’m sure they will find it. You can’t even spell seminary without semen. Why is it suddenly so important for the sex a priest is not having to be with a woman?” They also showed a clip of Msgr. Francis Maniscalco, the director of communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), saying that homosexuality and pedophilia are not the same thing. To which Black said, “Of course they are not the same thing. Homosexuality has no cure, pedophilia can be cured by a transfer to another diocese.”

October 31
On the CNN program “Larry King Live,” CBS reporter Mike Wallace made reference to a remark by the mother of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito to the effect that her son is “definitely against abortion.” Wallace sneered, “He’s a nice Catholic boy and he doesn’t believe in abortions.”

November 3
The CBS program “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” aired an episode titled “Secrets and Flies.” The episode revolved around the murder of Christina, a single mother. After an autopsy revealed that Christina was a virgin, it was learned that she adopted a fertilized embryo from Project Sunflower (an organization devoted to finding surrogate mothers for abandoned embryos).

Christina was described as a “prude” for being chaste, and was also referred to as “our Virgin Mary.” The pro-abortion forensic investigators sneered at her work, claiming that a pope once decreed that a baby isn’t human until quickening.

November 27
Comedy Central aired a special by Denis Leary titled “Merry F#%$in’ Christmas.” The show consisted of several skits, a cartoon and musical performances. There was a skit about lesbian nuns, and a song by “Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering Church Choir” about a hooker. But by far the most offensive part of the show was the monologue by Denis Leary on the origins of Christmas. Here is part of what he said:

Merry Christmas. Tonight we celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus, whose mom, Mary, just happens to be a virgin—even after she apparently gave birth to Jesus. At least that is what the Catholic Church would have you believe. Tom Cruise is taking a lot of s— for belonging to a religion, Scientology, that believes aliens came to this planet 75 million years ago. That is nothing. I was raised Catholic. We believe Mary was a virgin and Jesus ended up walking on water, creating a bottomless jug of wine and rising from the dead. Oh, yeah, and Tom Cruise is crazy. Listen, Christmas is built on a line of bulls—. Do I believe there was a baby Jesus? You bet your ass I do. But I believe that nine months before he was born someone sure as s— banged the hell out of his mom.

December 6
The “Boston Legal” episode “Gone” featured lawyers looking into a missing child who was taken by a pedophile. They discovered that a priest had information, culled from the confessional, on who the pedophile is. Posing as FBI agents, the lawyers break into the priest’s office and find that the priest is selling counterfeit papal blessings. The lawyers tell the priest that if he reveals what he learned about the pedophile in the confessional, they will keep his secret about the papal blessings. The priest ends up revealing what he knows even though he is aware he is violating Canon law.

December 7
In the “South Park” episode “Bloody Mary” a character gets a DWI and is ordered to attend AA meetings. Told about the 12-step program, he concludes that he needs a miracle to cure him. The plot then focused on a statue of the Virgin Mary who was “bleeding out her ass.” The Vatican then dispatched a cardinal to investigate. He, in turn, was sprayed with blood when he walked behind the statue. After the cardinal declared this to be a miracle, more people than ever before are drawn to see the statue. The alcoholic, now in a wheelchair, was also sprayed with blood. Pope Benedict XVI goes to investigate and he, too, is sprayed with blood. A reporter says, “The pope investigated further and determined that the statue was not bleeding out its ass, but its vagina.” To which the pope replied, “A chick bleeding out her vagina is no miracle. Chicks bleed out their vaginas all the time.”

December 29
On the ABC show “Prime Time,” host Diane Sawyer did a segment called “On the Trail of Pope Joan.” It focused on an alleged female pope that reigned in the eighth century. Sawyer used Donna Cross and Mary Malone as sources to back up the claim of a Pope Joan. Cross wrote a novel about the mythical Pope Joan and has no standing among scholars; Malone is an ex-nun who lost her faith and hates the Catholic Church. None of the serious scholars who dismiss the existence of “Pope Joan” as ludicrous were interviewed.

Pope John Paul II

May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005

Christopher Hitchens made an accusation on Slate.com that is totally without evidence: “And it has been conclusively established that the Vatican itself—including his holiness—was part of the cover-up and obstruction of justice that allowed the child-rape scandal to continue”

Jack Miles, the senior advisor to the president of J. Paul Getty Trust, wrote in an op-ed piece in the Los Angles Times, “it may take a Lucian Ford to capture the spectacle of grotesquerie and human ruin that has lately filled the balcony above St. Peter’s Square. The pope, suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease, made the choice to die before our eyes.”

In a statement on the death of Pope John Paul II, Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a gay group, blamed the pope for oppressing homosexuals. Her evidence consisted of nothing but the pope’s restatements of Church teachings on sexuality and attempts to deal with insubordination.

At a break between the two final-four basketball games, CBS aired a mini-news broadcast wherein reporter Dick Roth asked, “With whom will the College of Cardinals choose to replace this pope who ruled with an iron fist? Will they choose someone like him or someone more moderate?”

Gay-rights activist and president of Hillarynow.com, Robert Kunst, posted an article on his website attacking the pope and the Catholic Church. Kunst’s rant included many factual errors including blaming the AIDS crisis on John Paul II. He also claimed that “the Catholic Church is the biggest spreader of AIDS, since it wasn’t really interested in multiple viruses and mutations, and incubation periods, but only into attacking Gays as it continues to this day.”

Women-Church Convergence, a dissident Catholic group, released a statement about the death of the pope that attacked Catholic teachings on sexuality, and on the alleged treatment of women as “second-class citizens.”

We Are Church, a pro-abortion group, attacked Catholic teaching in a statement about the death of Pope John Paul II:

Although he was deeply committed to reform and dialogue in the world at large, he strengthened centralized, authoritarian structures within the Church itself. This fostered a climate of fear and rigidity.

Among the human rights still crying out for recognition in the church are: gender equality—including women’s ordination, the right of priests to marry, freedom of conscience and speech, the right to a fair trial, the right to be respected for one’s sexual orientation, and the moral adulthood of the laity in decisions regarding reproduction and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS.

Catholics Speak Out, a dissident Catholic organization, released a statement on the death of the pope castigating him for upholding Church teachings on abortion and birth control. It accused the pope of denying “grown women and men” the right “to control their reproductive lives without interference from the church or the state.”

Frances Kissling, the president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said the following about the death of Pope John II: “On the temporal level, this papacy was a profound disappointment for those who believe that Christ’s message of liberation, human freedom, and more democracy should apply not just to the world, but to the Church itself.” She accused the pope of lacking compassion for an almost “endless” list of groups including married priests, gay Catholics, those sexually abused by priests and women seeking ordination.

Richard Boudreaux, in a Los Angeles Times column, took issue with Pope John Paul II for upholding Church teachings on sexual morality as well as for instructing his flock on the issue of an all-male priesthood. Boudreaux claimed the pope’s “authoritarian model…drove many Catholics from the church and engendered resistance from others.” The writer hypothesized, “Perhaps his most contested pronouncement was that the church has no authority to ordain woman, ‘and all faithful are definitively bound by this judgment.’ Despite this extraordinary attempt to tie the church to his view forever, many Catholics favor opening the priesthood to women.”

Shelley Emling and Gayle White, writing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, painted Pope John Paul II as a despot for upholding Church teaching: “During his first official visit to the United States in 1979, he railed against abortion, premarital sex and overall immorality, lecturing huge crowds like an authoritarian father with misbehaving children.”

In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Michael Farrell, former editor of the left-wing National Catholic Reporter, blamed Pope John Paul II for rifts among Catholics, saying that by maintaining Church teachings on an all-male celibate priesthood and sexual morality, he “created a division between right and left, conservatives and progressives. One half feels very disenfranchised, while another applauds because he’s giving us neat, clean answers.”

In the same article, liberal Catholic author Eugene Kennedy is quoted as saying the pope “has tried to restore what is the past of the church; a hierarchical form of government instead of the collegiality called for by the Second Vatican Council.”

The Rev. Gerald Fogarty, a University of Virginia historian, was quoted in the Times-Picayune (New Orleans) saying that Pope John Paul II “was not one who could understand that opposition did not mean hostility. I don’t think he’s a good listener. I think he has trouble understanding a country like us, even though we’re one of the more vibrant branches of the church in the west.”

Dallas Morning News writer Susan Hogan insinuated that Pope John Paul II was a hypocrite for upholding Church teaching in the face of fads and personal opinion. She stated, “While championing democracy on the world stage, he was an authoritarian church leader. Shortly after his election, he began cracking down on theologians and clergy who didn’t adhere to his strict interpretation of Catholic doctrine.”

Fr. Richard McBrien told Newsday that the pope “left the Catholic Church with probably the worst crop of bishops it’s had in centuries. He has followed a rigid pattern of picking people who are ideologically in his line of thought and utterly loyal … That’s going to be the most serious negative legacy.”

In the same article, Andrew Padovano, president of Corpus (a group of ex-priests who have left the clergy in order to marry), lamented that the pope maintained orthodoxy in the face of dissent, saying “He had the possibility of leading the church in a way that would have been reconciling.”

Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of the dissident Catholic group FutureChurch, was recorded in Newsday as suggesting that exposure to Nazism and communism shaped Pope John Paul II’s leadership style. Schenk commented, “This pope has never had an experience of a pluralistic governance in his life.” When asked about those who would say the Church isn’t a democracy, she answered “The church isn’t a monarchy either, yet that’s how we’re behaving.”

The dissident homosexual Catholic group DignityUSA said, “We are saddened that John Paul II has left this life without having used his personal intellect and authority to learn how God is speaking through GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender) people to spread the Gospel.”

Sheila Durkin Dierks, author of WomenEucharist, bragged that groups of women are celebrating the liturgy without an ordained “presider” in their homes, and have been doing so for some time.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, in a news release titled “The Pope Has No Vestments,” stated that “if one adds up the good versus the evil committed by the pope, there is no question he has done far more harm than good.” The group also said, “The Vatican stranglehold over Catholics greatly increased under John Paul’s sway.” In a particularly vicious attack, the group stated that “just a few weeks ago, he [the pope] had the temerity to label as ‘murderers’ those who sought to remove [Terry] Schiavo’s feeding tube. The Pope lucked out, and died—before he could become a victim of his own pronunciamento.” The final line of the statement read: “The best to be said about Pope John Paul II is that his successor will likely be worse.”

Stephen Pope, professor of theology at Boston College, portrayed the pope as an autocrat when he told the Christian Science Monitor that Pope John Paul II “was not good at listening, especially to views that were not his own.”

In an article published on the website Counterpunch, Jim Connolly bashed Pope John Paul II, labeling him a reactionary: “Wojtyla sanctified the baroque reproductive/sexual bugaboos that infest the Catholic Church while striving to ideologically lobotomize the Catholic clergy and laity.” Connolly then went on to claim that John Paul intervened in the elections in Poland, thus admitting Connolly’s preference for Stalinist oppression.

The satirical website for the fictitious Landover Baptist Church lampooned the impending death of the pope with the article, “King of Mary Worshippers Thumbs His Nose at God and Refuses to Die!” The article referred to the pope as Satan’s surrogate on earth and said that the pope’s upcoming death had “True Christian party planners around the globe in a state of panic.” Accompanying the piece was a picture of the pope’s head superimposed on another body, touching the exposed rear end of someone. It had the caption, “The Pope examines a young Canadian boy who was molested by priests.”

On OpinionEditorials.com, Ariel Natan Pasko called for the Catholic Church to open up the Vatican vaults and “return all the stolen Jewish property that they have confiscated over the centuries, to honor the memory of those ‘good’ relations Pope John Paul II fostered.” Pasko added, “The last thousand years of the Church is strewn with blood libels, riots, pogroms, expulsions, and the most evil murderous attacks against Jewish communities, many of which were carried out under the behest of local parish priests. Inquisitions, forced conversions, outright murder, these are the memories that the Jewish people carry with them of Christian ‘love.’ Why compound these sins, by stealing the Jews’ heritage as well?”

Outside the Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, MN stood a sign that read:

10:15 AM
ALL WELCOME
CHRIST IS ALIVE
THE POPE IS DEAD

After the Catholic League called attention to the sign, it was removed.

On the April 5 edition of “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly took The New York Times to task for op-ed articles that amounted to a “counter attack against the late pontiff.” He said the Times “ran a couple of opinion columns saying that the pope was an autocratic guy who may have hurt his own church.” What bothered the Catholic League was O’Reilly’s hypocrisy: he has said much the same himself. On his radio show on March 5, 2003, O’Reilly said the following: “I have never liked this pope. I have always felt he was an autocrat who had no vision about how people live in the real world.” A year before that he called the pope “an authoritarian guy.”

Rea Howarth of Catholics Speak Out, a dissident group, talked about Pope John Paul II in a report by NBC News’ Bob Faw:

Howarth: “This Pope didn’t care to learn from the likes of women.”

Faw (voice over): “Her left-of-center Catholic group also complains that John Paul, rather than affirming life, actually affirmed death when he refused to permit the use of condoms to fight the spread of AIDS.”

Howarth: “That teaching is death dealing.”

The Village Voice wrote a typically bigoted statement upon the death of the pope: “Sooner or later the world’s 1 billion Catholics will have to make up their minds where they are living: this world or somewhere else.”

On the HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher and Arianna Huffingtonlaunched a verbal assault on Pope John Paul II on the day of his funeral. Maher started the show with several jokes including: “People waited in line for 24 hours to see the pope’s body and when they got to see him they smelled worse than he did.” Another one of Maher’s jokes concluded, “For those who could not make the funeral, the Vatican has asked that in lieu of flowers, just stop touching your d—k.”

During the panel portion of the show Maher said, “American Catholics say we love the pope, he should be a saint but he is kind of full of s— on everything we believe.” He also said that the whole story of Jesus and the Virgin Mary and the resurrection was “grafted from paganism.” He ended by mocking the death of the pope and the upcoming conclave.

Huffington disrespected the pope by referring to him as “this guy” and blamed him for the sex abuse scandal and AIDS in Africa.

Colman McCarthy wrote a piece in Salon.com, “The Bully Pope,” wherein he labeled John Paul II an autocrat and claimed “those who crossed him often suffered greatly for it.” He described the pope “as the secretly elected leader of a male-run, land-rich, undemocratic, hierarchic, dogmatically unyielding organization headquartered in a second-rate European country.” McCarthy also charged that “John Paul would crook you by the neck and dispatch you to a stony field where black-sheep dissidents could do penance.”

Christopher Hitchens attacked the Catholic Church and Pope John Paul II for apologizing for the wrongs committed by the Church. He wrote in Slate.com that the popes have been wrong about everything and that believers in the Catholic Church are not rational. He concluded his piece, “For us, this day is only the interment of an elderly and querulous celibate who came too late and stayed too long, and whose primitive ideology did not permit him the true self-criticism that could have saved him, and others less innocent, from so may errors and crimes.”

Thoraya Obaid, head of the U.N. Population Fund, admonished the Vatican on its teachings on condoms. Calling for the Catholic Church to endorse condom use, she said, “We are hoping the new pope will take this message further, because it makes no sense sending people to their death.”

An editorial that appeared in The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin (bypolitical activist Ed Garvey) ripped the media for its coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II. “I was appalled at the spectacle covered 24/7 by CNN, Fox, CNBC and most other news outlets. The elaborate funeral was over the top and for the most part scenes of mourners and views of his body substituted for meaningful commentary about a church in crisis.” Later he attacked the church with this statement: “From birth control to abortion, to married men denied access to the priesthood, the Catholic Church demeans women.”

In her article “A Cornucopia of Death”Arianna Huffington wrote of Pope John Paul II, “you’d think the wall-to-wall coverage would have included some serious discussion of the two tragic failures of his reign: his woeful mishandling of the church’s child molestation scandal, and how his archaic position on condoms contributed to the deaths of millions of people, especially in Africa.” Addressing the sex-abuse scandal, she wrote, “He even rejected a ‘zero tolerance’ policy calling for the immediate removal of molester-priests, concerned that it was too harsh. Too harsh?! This is a man who wouldn’t allow a priest to become bishop unless he was unequivocally opposed to masturbation, premarital sex and condoms. So, in his perverse pecking order, you had to be dead-set against ‘self-love’ but when it came to buggering little kids, there was some wiggle room.” She also blamed the pope for the rise in AIDS in Africa. “The other stain on the pope’s legacy is his tireless opposition to the use of condoms.”

In his syndicated “Savage Love” column, Dan Savage said he “was pleased to see John Paul’s papacy come to an end. He recalled how upset he was when the pope made a visit to the U.S. criticizing our “culture of death.” “That’s rich,” Savage said, “coming from the man who ordered bishops here to oppose civil rights laws that protect gays and lesbians.” He added, “I’m Catholic—in a cultural sense, not an eat-the-wafer, say-the-rosary, burn-down-women’s health-center sense.”

In his Village Voice column, Michael Musto claimed that Pope John Paul II “fanned the flames of widespread oppression.” After criticizing Catholic teaching on human sexuality and artificial birth control, Musto mused, “Of course maybe someone’s death might not seem like the right time to say, ‘He furthered sexual guilt, disease spreading, and hate crimes,’ but actually, when there’s exhaustive, weeks-long coverage of a man’s life, what better time could there be? (At least a pundit on an ABC special did note that the pope may have disliked democracy as much as he hated Communism.)”

Endtime Ministries runs an internationally syndicated anti-Catholic radio show. Hosts Irvin Baxter and Eddie Sax declared the pope to be a “false prophet.” They said that when the anti-Christ comes, he will have as his partner the person who is pope at that time. Indeed, they said that the pope will have enough power to appoint the anti-Christ the leader of the world. They allowed that Pope Benedict XVI was probably too old to be the last great “false prophet,” although they confessed that if he stays healthy, anything could happen.

In a prepared statement, Judy Huckaby, a homosexual ex-Catholic and executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), said of Pope Benedict:

Religious leaders like Ratzinger cannot dictate to us what our family values must be, particularly when their idea of family values excludes all GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) people and loved ones.

Huckaby continued,

The Church refuses to recognize the injustices it inflicts on its own families each time leaders like Cardinal Ratzinger vilify GLBT people. We hope that, as PFLAG families reach out to leaders of their faith, members of the clergy will realize the need for responsible religious rhetoric and the strength that comes from embracing all families.

On the Fox News Channel program “Special Report with Brit Hume,” Mort Kondracke said of Pope Benedict XVI:

I mean, he said in his homily on the death of Pope John Paul that the world faces the menace of a dictatorship of relativism, and what he seems to represent is a dictatorship of certitude. One of his biographers said that he wanted to fight political totalitarianism in the world with ecclesiastical totalitarianism. Now, that’s fine for Catholics. You know, he can be the enemy of dissent, and the enemy of reform, and all that stuff. But he is also very political…He sort of implied that Catholics in the United States should vote against politicians who favor abortion…so he is not only, you know, going to govern the Catholic Church with an iron hand. But he is also trying to impose his viewpoint on politics.

CBS Evening News’ Mark Phillips introduced his report on the election of Pope Benedict XVI with the question: “He has taken the name of a healer, but where will this archconservative lead the Catholic Church?” Later in the same broadcast, Phillips disparaged the new pope and painted him as a harsh tyrant, saying “In choosing Joseph Ratzinger, the cardinals picked the most polarizing figure in the Catholic Church. No one was more respected as a student of theology, but no one was more feared as a chief enforcer of Vatican orthodoxy….It was Joseph Ratzinger’s job as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith—the old Office of the Inquisition—that led to him being labeled by some as ‘God’s rottweiler.'”

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said of the election of Pope Benedict XVI: “The cardinals have elected the most outspoken and venomous opponent of equal rights for gay people in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy.”

Newsday columnist Ellis Henican wrote about the election of Pope Benedict XVI: “The only person around here yesterday who seemed truly excited about the news was Bill Donohue, head of the ultra-conservative Catholic League. Donohue’s group is the closest thing we have to our own Congregation for the Faith.”

Within days of assuming the papacy, Pope Benedict XVI was blamed for the unrest of those who dispute Church teaching by Dean Hoge, a sociology professor at the Catholic University of America. Of the new pope, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Hoge said, “He is a polarizing figure. Conservative Catholics will shout ‘Hallelujah, the Holy Spirit has shown us right.’ Dissident Catholics will wait for the next pope, but they won’t go away. They’ll push harder. This is not good news for the American church. We don’t need more polarization.”

The editor of Tikkun magazine, Rabbi Michael Lerner, was so upset by the election of Pope Benedict XVI that he said “it was a disaster for the world and for the Jews.” He further stated “This guy is going to continue the Vatican’s authoritarian, hierarchical, anti-gay policies. Many, many of my Catholic friends are in mourning today. And I want to speak out.”

The Los Angeles Times printed the following in an editorial on the Catholic Church and the election of Pope Benedict XVI: “The church is sadly putting off a change in worldview and retaining Eurocentric focus. By failing to pick a pope from Latin America or elsewhere in the developing world, the church reinforces the impression that it is a colonial enterprise, run in Europe by Europeans who see themselves as uniquely qualified to serve as God’s interlocutor.”

Jeffery Montgomery, executive director of the Triangle Foundation (a Michigan group for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals) stated that “Based on his history and his demagoguery it is nearly impossible to imagine that this new Pope will usher in an era of reconciliation and welcome. Ratzinger has been the author and voice of oppression and attacks on GLBT people.”

Mark Morford, a columnist for SFGate.com (the website partner of the San Francisco Chronicle) described Pope Benedict XVI as: “Very old school and drab, a real lover of repressive, bitter, orthodox doctrine. No fun at parties. Catholics in chains.” Morford offered 14 thoughts and ideas for the pope to try. They included endorsing condoms, ending “gay bashing” and viewing the movie “Kinsey,” which depicts Alfred Kinsey, the disturbed sexual researcher who authorized his staff to molest infants as young as five months old.

The Rev. Troy D. Perry, gay activist and moderator of the international group Metropolitan Community Churches, expressed a “deep sadness that one of the world’s most homophobic religious leaders has been elevated to the papacy, and regret that his policies will continue to devalue the rich spiritual gifts of LGBT people and women of faith.”

Rev. Allan Ramirez, a leading Latino advocate in New York and pastor of the Brookville Reformed Church, saw racism in the of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, a European: “It is insulting to the Latin Church. It is insulting to the African Church. Isn’t it about time that one of their own lead the church?”

The Rev. John H. Thomas, the president of the United Church of Christ, said in a statement that he greeted the election of Pope Benedict XVI with “profound disappointment.” He believed that Pope Benedict’s theological tone has been “rigid, conservative and confrontational.”

Richard Cohen, a columnist for the Washington Post, mused:

Being a non-Catholic nowadays is a bit like being a non-American most of the time. Important, maybe even historic, decisions are being made and you are totally locked out. America chooses a president who gets a bee in his bonnet about Iraq, and a hunk of the world goes to war. The cardinals of the church choose a pope and maybe an even bigger hunk of the world is affected.

Stanley Crouch’s article was one of two that appeared in the New York Daily News under the banner “Agendas for the new Pope,” both written by non-Catholics. Crouch wrote:

As Pope Benedict XVI considers what the future holds, he must remember that the Catholic Church and its Popes have stood through every imaginable crisis, but in so doing have submitted to monarchies and given aid and comfort to colonizers bent on destroying any society not part of Christendom.

Of course, we all know it looked the other way when Adolf Hitler and his murderous, jack-booted buffoons strode this bitter Earth. And we know that the church has held high the Virgin Mary while keeping women in a secondary position—as minor voices in the executive branches of its order—and has maintained a basically dismissive attitude toward what many consider contemporary women’s issues.

Ari Goldman’s article was the second of the two pieces. Goldman opined:

The church bells of St. Peter’s rang in the new Pope Benedict XVI, a man of the curia, the giant and glittering bureaucracy that runs the Catholic Church.

“More of the same,” a Catholic student groaned as we gathered around the television to watch the announcement. “Did you know he was a member of the Hitler Youth?” a Jewish student said. “All the old values without the charm,” said a gay student.

I am sure that Pope Benedict, even at 78, still has great reservoirs of enthusiasm to bring to the church. But to reach alienated Catholics, Jews and gays, like my students, he has to strip away the Vatican trappings and get off his papal throne.

In a piece in which he argued for fair treatment of the new pope, John Kass reported in the Chicago Tribune some of the things that he heard said:

Adolf Hitler was invoked, and the Nazis and the Spanish Inquisition. The images were strung together, then placed tightly about the neck of the German-born Cardinal Ratzinger, to immediately delegitimize the man now known to the world as Pope Benedict XVI.

Kass continued:

It was on TV and all over the Internet and printed in newspapers around the world, phrases like “Hitler Youth” and “God’s Rottweiler” and “The Panzer Cardinal” and the “Pope’s Hitman.” These were mentioned—in the ostentatiously neutral and therefore ostentatiously objective voice—to express the dissenting views of his critics.

Mary Mitchell, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist, expressed her feelings on the election of Pope Benedict XVI: “I’m disappointed. Well I am disappointed as a non-Roman Catholic.” Mitchell was upset that a pope from Europe was chosen and not a person from Latin America or Africa. “It’s pretty clear,” Mitchell added, “at least to this Baptist, that the Holy Spirit didn’t get the final word.”

A comment posted on National Review Online asked of the new pope, “what else can you expect from a filthy Nazi? … Nazi bas— wearing a dress and no doubt with a past in child-molesting.”

The headline of a reader’s letter on NYTimes.com, the website of The New York Times, was titled: “Nazi pope a clear and present danger to the civilized world.”

Forward, the Jewish weekly newspaper, took a shot at Pope Benedict XVI’s duties prior to becoming pope, writing:

Ratzinger, [was] the church’s chief theologian, prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith—an ancient body that was known until 1908 as the Sacred Congregation for the Universal Inquisition (yes, that Inquisition).

On Fox News Channel’s “The Beltway Boys,” Mort Kondracke found fault with Pope Benedict XVI for upholding the teachings of the Catholic Church, saying, “I mean, the idea that the…Catholic Church is saying, you can’t use birth control, is just laughed at by, by American Catholics, and for this, for this pope to continue with that argument is not going to build the, the American Catholic Church…and it also contributes to the AIDS epidemic in Africa…What I’m worried about is the dictatorship of certitude, where you stifle dissent, you prevent growth, and that sort of thing.”

An anonymous CNN insider was reported as saying the following after the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to pope: “I can’t believe the Catholic Church would do this. This guy doesn’t believe in abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, or female priests. I was really anticipating that the Catholic Church was ready to elect a pope that was not a true Catholic. Someone far more flexible on these issues. You know. Like a Unitarian Church leader.”

Carlin Romano published an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that paints Pope Benedict XVI as a former Nazi turned Neo-Nazi. (In truth, the young Joseph Ratzinger was forced to join the Hitler Youth, and later was drafted into the army. He quickly deserted.) He also claimed that the pope exhibited no empathy toward victims of the Nazis and describes “the image of Ratzinger that emerges from his youth” as “insular, fond of priestly authority, less moved by the moral code of Jesus’ message than by liturgy, eschatology, the precise meaning of ‘revelation,’ lovely diocesan buildings.” Romano ends his piece with the line, “The biography of Benedict XVI should trouble any who believe that the pope ought to be a morally inspiring figure, like Jesus himself.”

MSNBC “The Situation with Tucker Carlson,” July 19; Rachel Maddow: 
“I think the abortion stuff is going to be a big deal. I think the fact that he said we want to get rid of Roe v. Wade, the fact that his wife is the executive vice president of Feminists for Life. I mean, that stuff is going to matter.” When challenged by Tucker Carlson why it was necessary to bring his wife into the debate, Maddow said, “that fact is, that tells you something about his politics on choice, and that is going to matter.”

NPR “Morning Edition,” July 20; Nina Totenberg: 
“Pro-choice advocates noted, too, that Robert’s lawyer wife is a former top officer of an anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life.”

CNN “Showbiz Tonight,” July 20; Nancy Skinner:
“And we don’t know exactly what he’s going to do [about Roe v. Wade], because he was an advocate in the Bush administration when he said that. But his wife is associated with an anti-abortion group.”

CNN “Inside Politics,” July 20; Suzanne Malveaux: 
“We’ve learned a lot more about him in the last 12 hours. We know he’s Roman Catholic. We know his wife is part of a group, a pro-life organization here. What does that say about the candidate? How important is that going to be in the confirmation?” To which Donna Brazile responded, “I think it’s going to be one of many issues that gets scrutinized when members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sit and talk to him about his views.”

NPR, July 20; Lynn Neary: 
“And he is a Roman Catholic, and that might affect the way he views an issue like abortion, for instance.” To which American University law professor Stephen Wermiel said, “It could make a difference. It could also make a difference in church-state separation issues.”

Addie Stan, July 20; Adele M. Stan: 
In her blog, Stan wrote, “Rome must be smiling.” Calling it a “brilliant move” by Bush to select a Catholic, she advised that “senators who challenge Roberts [on abortion] are likely to be tarred with the anti-Catholic smear. That’s why it’s imperative that Catholic senators take the lead in the hard questioning.”

The American Prospect, July 20; Adele M. Stan: 
In a section of her article entitled, “Playing the Catholic card,” Stan wrote:

In choosing a Roman Catholic, Bush is betting he’s bought himself some insulation—any opposition to Roberts, particularly because of his anti-abortion record, will likely be countered with accusations of anti-Catholicism. A timely pitch, one must say, to conservative Catholic voters prior to the midterm elections.

People for the American Way, July: 
In an article in the “Right Wing Watch” section of its website, the activist group wrote:

It looks as if a full-scale “Religious McCarthyism” campaign has been launched. The Right’s win-at-all-costs advocacy disguised as “defense” now routinely includes slanderous attempts to intimidate Senate Democrats and their political allies by trying to paint opposition to the nominee—or even questions about his views on the right to privacy—as being rooted in anti-Catholic or anti-Christian bigotry.

ABC “Good Morning America,” July 20; Barbara Walters: 
“John Roberts is a Roman Catholic. How important to him is his religion? Do you think that it might affect him as a Supreme Court justice?”

CNN “Insight,” July 20; Jonathan Mann: 
“He is a Catholic. His wife…is involved with a group called Feminists for Life, it’s an anti-abortion group.”

Investor’s Business Daily, July 21; Brian Mitchell: 
“The left has other reasons to fear Roberts. Roberts is a Catholic. His wife Jane is a former executive vice president of Feminists for Life.”

Associated Press, July 23; Senator Tom Coburn: 
“I had a couple of questions that he ducked.” As reported, the news story said, “Coburn said he and the nominee discussed issues ranging from Robert’s faith and his relationship with his wife….He said Roberts declined to answer a question about how his Catholic faith influences his life and work.”

NPR, July 23; Nina Totenberg: 
“Don’t forget his wife was an officer, a high officer of a pro-life organization. He’s got adopted children. I mean, he’s a conservative Catholic.”

CNN, July 23: 
The network flashed two responses to its e-mail question, “What would you ask Supreme Court nominee John Roberts?” They were as follows: a) “If being a devout Catholic would influence on any Roe versus Wade decisions, this is very important,” b) “I hope I would ask Roberts if he believes in the separation of church and state.”

CNN “Sunday Morning,” July 24; Tony Harris: 
“Roberts is a Roman Catholic and a political conservative. This week on our ‘Faces of Faith’ segment we’re going to examine how his faith might influence his profession.”

CNN “Inside Politics,” July 26; Ed Henry: 
“Now, Senator Durbin, who is Catholic himself, told me today that he believes he needs to look at everything, including the nominee’s faith, as he takes a measure of the man, in this case, Judge Roberts.”

Los Angeles Times, July 25; Senator Dick Durbin according to law professor Jonathan Turley: 
“Roberts was asked by Sen. Durbin what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considered immoral.”

Washington Times, July 26: 
Senator Dick Durbin disputed that he made the above remark and Turley responded by saying Durbin made the comment in the NBC makeup room on July 24; Turley also said that he cleared Durbin’s quip with the senator’s press secretary, Joe Shoemaker.

CNN “Inside Politics,” July 28; Victor Kamber: 
“But isn’t the faith question, don’t we know where he puts his faith against the law?”

Tribune Media Services, July 29; Bill Press: 
“It is absolutely essential to explore Roberts’ religious beliefs as part of the confirmation process.” He added, “Fair to question Roberts about his faith? Of course it is. And those who suggest otherwise should not be taken seriously.”

Slate, August 1; Christopher Hitchens:
In a piece called “Quit tiptoeing around John Roberts’ Faith,” Hitchens wrote:

Why should this question [about Roberts’ faith and the way he might rule] be asked only of Catholics? Well, that’s easy. The Roman Catholic Church claims the right to legislate on morals for all its members and to excommunicate them if they don’t conform. The church is also a foreign state, which has diplomatic relations with Washington.

Hitchens went on to say that “If Roberts is confirmed there will be quite a bloc of Catholics on the court. Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas are strong in the faith. Is it kosher to mention these things?”

NPR, August 1; Francis Kissling: 
“If this pope will intervene in the ways he has already in Europe, it certainly raises questions for us in the immediate sense of whether he thinks he can tell Roberts how to vote when he gets on the Supreme Court.”

Village Voice, August 2; James Ridgeway: 
“Possible conflicts involving wife’s work,” Ridgeway notes, include the fact that “She is currently legal counsel to the anti-abortion group Feminists for Life of America.” Curiously, Ridgeway says that Roberts and his wife belong to the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Maryland, “whose members include L. Paul Bremer III.”

Washington Post, August 2; E.J. Dionne: 
“If Roberts’ religious views are important to him, why should they be off-limits to honest discussion?” Dionne also said that “it would be helpful if Roberts gave an account of how (and whether) his religious convictions would affect his decision as a justice.”

NPR, August 2; Dahlia Lithwick: 
On the program “Day to Day,” Lithwick commented:

And I also wouldn’t underestimate the influence of his religion, that Scalia and Thomas, one of the reasons they may not have drifted leftward has a lot to do with very, very strong religious views that pull them to the right. And I think that probably John Roberts will fall into that camp in that sense.

Providence Journal, August 2; John MacArthur: 
MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s magazine, stated:

The Roberts couple seem to be well-educated; I wonder whether in their high-minded socializing with Clarence and Virginia Thomas (at the College of the Holy Cross) and Robert and Mary Ellen Bork (at the lay Catholic John Carroll Society), they find time for informal book chat…

CNN, “Larry King Live,” August 4; Larry King: 
“Anyone have a problem on him being a devout Catholic?”

NBC, “Meet the Press,” August 7, 2005; Mario Cuomo: 
Regarding questions that Cuomo wanted the senators to ask Roberts, he said: “Are you going to impose a religious test on the Constitution? Are you going to say that because the pope says this or the Church says that, you will do it no matter what?”

Boston Globe, August 9; Christopher D. Morris: 
“Asking the bishops to testify [before the Senate Judiciary Committee] would be healthy.” Writing about bishops who threatened to withhold the Eucharist from John Kerry, Morris wrote, “If the bishops repeated or confirmed their threats, the Senate Judiciary Committee should draft legislation calling for the automatic recusal of Catholic judges from cases citing Roe v. Wade as a precedent.”