Here are the final paragraphs of Magister's essay that come after his discussion of the breakdown of the conservative/progressive paradigm of reporting by the media and his criticism of how the media covered events like the Papal funeral.
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This adherence to reality should apply to all other reporting of Church events too, in order to give a faithful account of them. If Joseph Ratzinger’s career path since the middle of 2004 had been followed attentively, if his speeches had been read carefully, if his gestures had been analysed, if the growing consensus about him in the college of cardinals had been registered… then his election as pope would not have come as a surprise, as it did for practically all of the media, but rather as a natural occurrence.
In order to do this, however, a Vatican correspondent needs to supply himself with a special virtue: “epistemological humility”. He needs to avoid drawing hasty conclusions on every small or large event, he needs to shun cookie-cutter formats, and simply study the actual matters.
That is why the job of Vatican correspondent is particularly difficult and demanding. Because the “matter” of the Church is one of the most grandiose, complex, vital and mysterious concepts that has ever existed on this earth. And for believers, also beyond earth.
Read the complete article The Vatican and Vaticanologists. A Very Special Kind of Journalism from www.chiesa.
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