Spinning Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa

One of the things mentioned by BBC Watch in connection to the BBC's coverage of the Pope's Christmas messages (mentioned in the previous post) was that, as BBC Watch puts it:

Contrary to the impression given by that presentation, the Pope’s Christmas address did not include any mention whatsoever of the US president or his December 6th announcement recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

By coincidence, I was thinking exactly the same about part of another BBC report concerning the senior Catholic in the area around Bethlehem and Jerusalem - the splendidly-named Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa :

That worried me because I'd read earlier reports from before Midnight Mass saying that the Archbishop was doggedly attempting to stay clear of politics, and - as, alas, I'm doing ever more often - not trusting the BBC to report this fairly or accurately, I sought out a video of that Midnight Mass and transcribed what Archbishop Pizzaballa actually said from it (it's from around an hour in):

I do not need to repeat here what I've already said many times in various institutional meetings about what we are living these days. I imagine you want me to talk about Jerusalem. We've already talked about Jerusalem many times in these days. We already said, Pope Francis said, many things. We as Church, as Latin Patriarchate, already said many things we don't need to repeat. You've already heard from us what we have to say. Also because I want to keep the religious dimension of the celebration, otherwise we will give to our celebration a narrow dimension. But something - it's not written in your text - I need to say. We are in the Holy Land, blessed land - wonderful, fascinating and also difficult land, full of history, traditions, places. Land that talks to billions of believers all over the world. And we are called here as inhabitants of this land not to possess it but to serve it. What we do here is a service for all humanity, not just for ourselves. Pope Francis said, repeating what many others said before him, it's not new, that Jerusalem is a city of peace. There is not peace if someone is excluded. Jerusalem should include, not exclude. A mother - Jerusalem is our mother - loves all her children. If one is missing the mother cannot be in peace. So we have to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, according to what the psalm says. But with have to continue or otherwise we go too much into politics. We have to remain in our religious dimension.    

As with the Pope, the BBC evidently decided to give its audience the impression that the Catholic leader in the region had "condemned President Trump's decision" at Midnight Mass. However, the above is what he actually said (in my own transcription). 

Do the words "At Midnight Mass in Bethlehem, local Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa condemned President Trump's decision" really match up to what the Archbishop really said here? Or was the BBC 'reading between the lines' for us and spinning it?

Well, I know what my answer to that is! 

To paraphrase BBC Watch: Contrary to the impression given by that presentation, the Archbishop's Christmas address did not include any mention whatsoever of the US president or his December 6th announcement recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.