To read our New York Times op-ed page ad in today’s newspaper, click here.

To read the ad we initially submitted, but was rejected, click here.

Bill Donohue defends St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson’s position on the Girl Scouts:

If an organization that did noble work were to waver, aligning itself with groups that are hostile to the values that made it admirable, it would ineluctably alienate many of its initial supporters. This is exactly what has happened to the Girl Scouts. Which is why the bishops’ conference investigated the Scouts, concluding in 2014 that some of the concerns were genuine; each bishop was asked to evaluate local conditions.

St. Louis Archbishop Carlson has expressed his misgivings about the Girl Scouts and has asked each pastor to reconsider the parish’s relationship with the organization. Importantly, he is not abandoning Catholic youth: He has instituted a Catholic Committee for Girls Formation. “While continuing to serve our Catholic girls involved in various scouting programs,” he said, “this committee will also reflect our ongoing commitment to educating and forming all young women.”

What Archbishop Carlson announced makes eminently good sense, though if one were to listen to his unhinged critics, it might seem as if he declared war on the Girl Scouts. This is not only factually wrong, it is a scurrilious accusation.

The Catholic Left, which is too often more Left than Catholic, is going crazy. Sr. Maureen Fiedler is angry because Carlson has raised objections to two of her pro-abortion heroes, Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, both of whom are loved by the Girl Scouts. The discredited New Ways Ministry is accusing Carlson of “acting punitively.” Ken Briggs is unable to make a cogent rejoinder, so he elects to say that Carlson has branded the scouts “subversive.”

The secular Left is just as nutty. Daily Kos, Salon, Religion Dispatches—they’ve all cracked up. Patheos, the quirky religion website, even took the opportunity to trash the Eucharist. The level of hate is pathological.

Kudos to Archbishop Carlson for defending Catholic values.

To read Bill Donohue’s article on the politics of “Spotlight,” click here.

Bill Donohue comments on last night’s Comedy Central show, “@Midnight with Chris Hardwick”:

The crucifixion of Jesus is a favorite target for laughs on Comedy Central’s “@Midnight with Chris Hardwick.” They were at it again last night.

Hardwick began the night’s game show contest by showing an illustration of a muscular Jesus hanging on the Cross. Then he asked the show’s contestants to respond to this “picture of a super-ripped Korean Jesus” by giving “a line from one of his sermons.” Among the gems that they responded with were these:

Mary Lynn Rajskub: “Get thee behind me Satan and spot me and then I will in turn spot for you and then we can soap each other’s d***s in the locker room.”

Kurt Braunohler: “Do others as you would have others do you. Ripped Jesus loves to f*** [bleeped].”

That this latest mockery of Christ’s suffering on the Cross was broadcast in the middle of the Christian holy season of Lent was surely no accident. That they only choose Christian holy seasons to act like beasts is telling.

Contact Carl Folta, Executive VP, Viacom Communications: Carl.Folta@viacom.com

Bill Donohue comments on how the Daily Beast is covering Catholicism:

The Daily Beast is a website that covers a wide range of subjects. Its reporting is even more wide-ranging: some of it is quite good, and some of it is sophomoric. When it comes to Catholicism, much of what is posted is tabloid journalism. Take today’s piece by Barbie Latza Nadeau, a regular contributor. Yahoo! flagged it as if it were a serious piece.

The subject of her story is Miriam Wuolou, a receptionist who worked at the pope’s residence. The 34-year-old was found dead in her home last Friday outside Rome; she was seven-months pregnant. She suffered from acute diabetes and had not reported to work for several weeks. It was the police who found her body, following an inquiry made by her brother.

So far, this is simply a tragic story. But wait—Nadeau smells a rat. She tweeted, “Did someone Kill the Pope’s Receptionist?” That is also the title of her story in the Daily Beast. She leads with, “The Mysterious Death of a Pregnant Woman Had the Pope Wondering Why She Had to Die.”

In fact, there is no evidence that the pope is wondering anything of the sort. Nadeau offers “theories” of what may have happened, most of which deal with the victim’s husband. I have a few theories about her, but I won’t share them because they amount to conjecture. Would that she follow suit.

Just last week, Nadeau did a story, “Did Pope Francis Just Sink Trump?” She did not theorize the next day why Trump won. Predictably, she also misconstrued what the pope said about Trump. Her previous piece on Catholicism was just as adolescent: “Did Pope John Paul II Have a Secret Lover?” She doesn’t know, but she invites us to think that he may have.

Admittedly, it is hard for writers to compete for attention in this Internet age, but that is no excuse for demagoguery.

Contact: blatznadeau@gmail.com

Bill Donohue comments on a slur made by New Hampshire Republican state representative Susan DeLemus:

“The Pope is the anti-Christ.” We’ve heard this line many times before: it typically comes from some Protestant anti-Catholic bigot. These are the words posted on the Facebook page of New Hampshire Rep. Susan DeLemus.

DeLemus has a very good record on such key issues as abortion and marriage, but that matters little to us. What matters is her Catholic bashing, and what she said about Pope Francis is a vintage expression of it. Quite frankly, there can be no coalition between pro-life and pro-marriage (properly understood) Catholics and people like her.

After making her comment, DeLemus attempted to explain herself, seeking to walk back her offensive remark. She failed. She needs to apologize to Catholics and pledge not to promote anti-Catholicism again.

We are sending this news release to all her colleagues in the New Hampshire legislature.

Contact: susan.delemus@leg.state.nh.us

Bill Donohue comments on tweets made by Ann Coulter:

Four years ago, Ann Coulter flashed her political IQ by concluding that Mitt Romney was the most conservative candidate in the race. Her new hero is Donald Trump. That’s fine, but what is not okay is her nasty tendency to rant against Catholicism.

When the dustup between Trump and Pope Francis erupted last week, Coulter swung into action. She started out with a few throw-away lines about the pope’s authority, questioning his free speech rights and the Church’s tax-exempt status. Then she really got into the gutter: “Quick Quiz: Btwn Trump & the Pope, which one runs a huge multinational that protects subordinates when they rape little boys?”

Vintage Coulter. Not only does she know nothing about the First Amendment, she cannot contain her bigotry.

The real problem with Coulter is her unmanliness: whenever she smears someone, or makes bigoted comments, she runs, defensively saying that we don’t get her jokes. But she is not joking. Nor is her buddy Bill Maher when he lashes out at the Catholic Church. They are serious, and as such they should be held accountable. The comedic facade doesn’t work anymore.

If Trump were wise, he would sever all ties with this bigot. He doesn’t need to be tied to her Catholic problem.

Contact Ann Coulter: anncoulter@aol.com

Bill Donohue comments on last night’s edition of “Hannity”:

The subject of a discussion on “Hannity” last night was the Trump-Pope feud, a controversy set in motion by a dishonest reporter from Reuters: in a classic red-herring scam, he misrepresented Trump’s position on immigration, and then asked the pope to comment on it.

The way Sean reacted to the exchange was bizarre. Worse still was his guest, Rev. Robert Jeffress. Indeed, the only person who made any sense was Father Robert Sirico.

Sean’s dislike of Pope Francis is obvious, but the fact that he could not contain his anger without veering off about priestly sexual abuse does not speak well for him. That he went off the rails is indisputable.

Sean’s biggest mistake was inviting an anti-Catholic bigot, Rev. Jeffress, to comment on the pope.

In 2010, Jeffress said the Roman Catholic Church was the outgrowth of a “corruption” called the “Babylonian mystery.” Then he got really dirty: “Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like pagan religion. Isn’t this the genius of Satan?”

Given this man’s pedigree, it was hardly surprising to hear him say last night that “the pope needs to ask for Donald Trump’s forgiveness for saying such an outlandish thing.” Wrong, Reverend: It is you who needs to ask for forgiveness for calling the Catholic Church the voice of Satan.

In 2011, I criticized presidential hopeful Gov. Rick Perry for inviting Jeffress to introduce him at a D.C. conference. Perry handled it well: after I blasted Jeffress on “Hardball,” Perry called me at home expressing his regrets for inviting the Dallas minister. That settled the issue.

Hannity should similarly settle this issue by not inviting this bigot to opine about the pope ever again, even if he is a Fox News Contributor.

Bill Donohue comments on Pope Francis and Donald Trump:

Earlier today, I commented on how the media like to ask Donald Trump to opine about the pope’s position on immigration, but no one wants to ask Hillary Clinton about the pope’s position on abortion. Now the pope is being asked about Trump’s position on immigration. The pope is making headlines everywhere for saying, “Trump is not a Christian.” But there is much more to this story than what is being reported.

First, the question to the pope inaccurately reflected Trump’s views. Quite frankly, the pope was set up. The reporter told the pope that Trump “wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, thus separating families.” That is patently false. On August 16, 2015, Chuck Todd, on “Meet the Press,” asked Trump, “You’re going to split up families. You’re going to deport children?” To which Trump said, “Chuck—no, no. No, we’re going to keep the families together. We have to keep the families together.” When asked where they would go, Trump said, “We will work with them.” So the pope was misled.

Second, after misrepresenting what Trump said, the reporter asked the pope “if an American Catholic can vote for someone like this.” This is rather amazing: Do some in the media now want the pope to tell Catholics who to vote for!

Third, the pope, unlike the media, was totally fair to Trump. He said, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” (My italic.) He added that “I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that…and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.” (My italics.)

In fact, Trump’s official position on immigration lists three principles: “A nation without borders is not a nation”; “A nation without laws is not a nation”; “A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation.” The last two principles are never mentioned by the media, thus do they distort Trump’s thinking. The bias, which is as strong on the right as it is on the left, is astounding.

Bill Donohue comments on media coverage of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Pope Francis:

Donald Trump disagrees with the pope on immigration, and Hillary Clinton disagrees with the pontiff on abortion.

Here are some headlines about Trump and the pope:

• “Pope Taunts Trump Again, Will Catholics Respond with Votes?”
• “Pope Francis to Donald Trump: Stop Lecturing the Vatican on My Visit to Mexico”
• “The Pope, ‘The Donald’ and the Wall Between Them”
• “Donald Trump’s Bad Catholic Day”
• “Pope Francis’s Prayer for Migrants Dings Donald Trump”
• “Donald Trump Picks Fight with Pope and the Vatican Slams Him”
• “Pope Francis to Donald Trump: Don’t Admonish the Vatican for My Visit to Mexico”

These are just some of the headlines that pit Trump against the pope; there are many more stories that do the same. By contrast, when NARAL, the most radical pro-abortion organization in the nation, endorsed Hillary Clinton on January 5, there was not a single media outlet that pitted her against the pope.

Trump and Clinton both belong to mainline Protestant denominations (Presbyterian and Methodist, respectively), and both are leading contenders to win the nomination of their party. Why, then, the media fixation on Trump differing with the pope, but not Clinton and the pope?

The media bias is even more flagrant than this. There is no clear-cut Catholic teaching on immigration the way there is one on abortion. Moreover, Trump was asked to comment on the pope’s position on immigration. Why is Clinton never asked to comment on the pope’s position on abortion?