News through a Catholic lens

Richard A. Sokerka

Last Friday evening at 8 p.m., EWTN News launched a new weekly discussion show “EWTN News In Depth,” covering the intersection of faith and current events.

With Montse Alvarado, a Hispanic Catholic who also serves as vice president and executive director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty as host, the show is important programming in these turbulent times for all Catholics in our nation.

About the show, Alvarado said, “Our Catholic community has suffered intense division through a shifting political environment, a global pandemic, and a lack of fundamental truths.”

The show’s one-hour length allows for thorough coverage of current events, culture, politics, and the Church — all from a Catholic lens.

Alvarado said the show aims to advance its goal of “informed discussions, in-depth interviews, and explainer packages from EWTN correspondents that break down news and events from an authentically Catholic perspective.”

There is a definite need for an “authentically Catholic perspective” on TV news given the political scene in Washington regarding Church teaching on life issues, marriage, religious freedom, and gender ideology, to name just a few.

The secular press touts President Biden as a “devout Catholic” despite his strong support for abortion rights, gender ideology, and his steadfast opposition to religious liberty legislation — as exemplified in his defense of the Equality Act.

The false and misleading message he is sending to Catholics is that his support for taxpayer-funded abortion, codifying Roe vs Wade as law, pushing for passage of the Equality Act that the USCCB has warned would codify gender ideology in law and would “punish” objecting religious groups, does not stop him from being a “devout Catholic.”

Why? Because he carries rosary beads in his pocket?

Just last week, to show his “devoutness,” he pulled out his rosary beads (again) in a virtual meeting with Mexico’s President López Obrador, and claimed a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe from his travels to Mexico as vice president.

“During my visits, I got to know Mexico a little bit and its people, and paid my respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe. As a matter of fact, I still have my rosary beads that my son was wearing when he passed,” Biden said.

As Catholics know, Our Lady of Guada­lupe is patron of the Americas, a title given to her by Pope St. John Paul II.

But does the President know that she is also patron of unborn children whom he has declared war on with his extreme abortion policies?

That is something a “devout” Catholic would certainly not do.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, the USCCB’s pro-life chair, noted, “We bishops have the responsibility to correct him” for using the term. He added that Biden “is usurping the role of the bishops and confusing people” by calling himself a “devout Catholic” while opposing the Church’s teaching on abortion.

This is among the important faith issues we can expect to see on “EWTN News In Depth.” Catholics need to seek out news through a Catholic lens and not rely on the secular media to tell us repeatedly what a “devout” Catholic the President is.