Update: AP issues correction.
The meeting between Pope Francis and PA President Mahmoud Abbas has become a classic illustration of how a lie gets halfway across the world while the truth is still putting it’s shoes on.
The lie, in this case, was that the Pope called Abbas an “angel of peace” during their meeting on Saturday. During the meeting, one day before the Pope was set to canonize two nuns from Ottoman-era Palestine, the two leaders exchanged gifts. The New York Times presented typical coverage of the event:
Presenting Mr. Abbas with a medallion, the pope said it depicted an angel of peace “destroying the bad spirit of war.” It was an appropriate gift, the pope added, since “you are an angel of peace.”
Of course, the Times wasn’t alone. The same bit of misinformation traveled far and wide via the AFP, Daily Mail, BBC, and many more.
But according to the National Review, the media missed the real story:
They couldn’t be more wrong. Here is the account of Pope Francis’s remarks by the Vatican reporter for La Stampa, an Italian newspaper:
As is tradition with heads of State or of government, Francis presented a gift to the Palestinian leader, commenting: “May the angel of peace destroy the evil spirit of war. I thought of you: May you be an angel of peace.” Pope Francis had called Abu Mazen a “man of peace” when he visited Bethlehem in May 2014, just as he called the then Israeli prime minister, Shimon Peres, a “man of peace” during his subsequent visit to Jerusalem. The Argentinian pope had then invited both leaders to a prayer vigil for peace in the Vatican Gardens which took place on 8 June that year and was also attended by the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew.
In other words, the Pope did not call Abbas an “angel of peace” at all. Quite the opposite. He was urging him to become an angel of peace in the future.
The National Review version was backed by the Washington Post, which also based its coverage on the official Vatican statement:
During a meeting Sunday at the Vatican, Francis presented Abbas with a bronze medal representing an angel of peace and encouraged him to commit to peace, a statement from the Holy See said.
So what accounts for the rapid spread of erroneous information? According to the National Review:
This reveals the eagerness of some in the media to paint His Holiness as some valiant advocate for the progressive cause, and thus, an ally of Palestine over Israel. If the Pope indeed called Abbas an angel, it would, in their eyes, be yet another example of his putting conservative Catholics, many of whom are likely to be pro-Israel, in their place.
Indeed, the media has long held the position that Abbas is the last, best hope for peace in the region, despite the failure of years of Abbas-led peace negotiations. But if Abbas is a man of peace, acknowledged by an authority such as the Pope, then the failure of talks must be the fault of Israel.
Featured image: CC BY-NC-SA Jared Rodriguez/Truthout via flickr with modifications by HonestReporting
