27. Vatican Accuses Italian Media of Spreading False Reports To Influence Papal Election

 http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/02/24/vatican_accuses_italian_media_of_spreading_false_reports.html

Daniel Politi wrote for Slate Magazine, an article regarding controvesy between the Vatican Church and the Italian media on February 24th. The author introduced the article with a long, but information filled sentence which briefly summarized the main idea of the article. According to CNN, the Vatican Chuch accused the Italian media for linking information about "Poper Benedict XVI's resignation to the supposed discovery of a network of gay Vatican officials" and reported that such allegations were a scheme to influence the election of the new Pope. Politi quoted Tarcisio Bertone (Vatican Secretary of State) and Father Frederico Lombardi (Vatican spokesman) who presented their distressed views regarding the situation as the conclave drew near. Further on, the author presented another bad news not from Italy. This time, three priests and a formal Scotland priest reported cardinal O'Brien, who will be presenting to the public the pope's successor, for "inappropriate behavior" for over thirty years. In the final paragraph, it was reported that Pope Benedict XVI "gave his final Sunday blessing of his papacy" and on Wenesaday will be giving his final public appearance as pope.

Politi's purpose in writing this article was to mainly inform his audience about the controversy between the Catholic Church and the media reporters. In order to cleary and objectively inform his readers, Politi portrayed a certain knowledge of the issue discussed, as evident in many of his supporting arguments. Throughout the article, the author cited various media reports such as CNN, La Repubblica, Vatican Radio, the Observer, Associated Press, and Reuters. Not only did he mention the media, but he also used primary sources by quoting high priests and members of the clergy themselves which further supported his arguments and gave credence to his claims. Though not explicit, it seemed as if Politi was also trying to persuade his audience to think the allegations against the church were indeed false since he only presented one side of the issue (the church's), the clergy's distress, and the cardinal O'Brien's allegations of "inappropriate behavior." By presenting these harms and the struggles the Chruch was contesting, Politi appealed to the audience's emotion by invoking pity which was eventually causing them to agree with and support the Church. Politi presented a serious and somewhat "unbiased" tone as well as simple and objective diction to approach his audience.