Understanding What the Pope Really Said

For John, BLUF:  If it can be translated wrong it will be translated wrong.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Over at PJ Media writer Stephen Kruiser gives us "Contrary to Popular Outrage, Pope Francis Didn’t Call Mahmoud Abbas ‘an Angel of Peace’".

Another day, another misquote.

I hate to get into a public disagreement with a colleague here, but the outrage du jour seems to be based on a translation that may or may not be deliberately wrong.  As the BBC and the Associated Press are at the root of it, I’m leaning towards the former.

A BBC reporter in the room claimed that Pope Francis said “you are an angel of peace” while presenting a gift (which is Vatican tradition) to Abbas.

The Vatican reporter for the Italian newspaper La Stampa has it differently:

As is tradition with heads of State or of government, Francis presented 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.”

Calling someone something and exhorting him to be that something are two entirely different things.

What has befuddled me and several of my conservative friends who are also devout Roman Catholics is the willingness of our conservative friends to take news about this pope at face value from MSM outlets that aren’t trusted for anything else.

I would guess Zenit is a partial solution.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff