Media Research Center executive Tim Graham took his employer’s typical more-Catholic-than-the-pope approach to the religion in an April 13 post:
The elitist media’s treatment of the Catholic Church is entirely ideological. When Catholic leaders take moral positions Democrats favor, they are heroes. When they sound moral alarms that Republicans favor, they are either disparaged or ignored (more often ignored).
On Sunday’s 60 Minutes, the apparently mandatory anti-Trump segment was an interview with three Cardinals everyone associated with “progressive” Pope Francis – Blasé Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington DC, and Joseph Tobin of Newark. The two big anti-Trump topics were the war in Iran and mass deportation. There were no questions on abortion or gender ideology or nuns suing the Democrat governor of New York.
Norah O’Donnell, who was granted an interview with Pope Francis in 2024 – where she also hammered on immigration and called on the pontiff to denounce “climate deniers” (he called them “foolish”) – was back to provide another platform for the leftist-pleasing prelates.
O’Donnell noted that Pope Leo “appeared” to be criticizing Pete Hegseth in a Palm Sunday homily. CBS quoted Hegseth, and typically failed to note Hegseth was quoting from the Psalms. She asked “Is this a just war?” Cardinal McElroy hit the right note for CBS: “No. Under Catholic teaching, this is not a just war.”
But O’Donnell deserves some credit for noting “Iran has been the chief exporter of terror. Is there no scenario in which preventing that can be a just war?” The answer was contradictory: McElroy said “It’s an abominable regime, and it should be removed,” but it’s still an unjust war somehow.
Graham didn’t explain how merely criticizing Trump makes the cardinals “leftist,” nor did he elaborate on how those views diverge from Catholic orthodoxy. He continued to grouse:
Cardinal Cupich was cued to denounce social-media videos glamorizing war — that’s an easy one. Then they shifted to deportations. O’Donnell noted Cardinal Tobin called ICE a “lawless organization,” sounding exactly like Democrats. She asked: “Why did you do that?” He claimed “I didn’t say that they were people without law. But when people act in this way, when they have to hide their identities to terrify people, when they can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, well, I think somebody’s got to call that out and I’m not the only one.”
O’Donnell did not ask whether an illegal immigrant is “lawless,” or whether sneaking into our country is sinful in any way. They just moved on, to Cardinal McElroy complaining that “fear” of deportation is causing smaller attendance at Spanish-language masses. O’Donnell noted McElroy thought the border was “getting out of control” under Biden, but now the government is rounding up “people who have been living good, strong lives.”
Again, Graham refused to elaborate on how, exactly, it is “sinful” for migrants to try and improve their lives. He continued to huff:
Finally, O’Donnell could not suppress several grins over the optics of the American-born pope spending July 4 on the Italian island of Lampedusa to sympathize with all the migrants arriving there to spread out over Europe. How deliciously anti-Trump!
Despite smearing these cardinals as “leftist,” Graham offered no evidence that they deviated in any way from Catholic teachings.