All messed up ... a chance for media sensationalism

 Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, is the head of the Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. The recent church sex abuse scandal, I believed, has caused him much headache. No one is without fault (not that I think he is at fault in the handling of sex abuse scandal), but he is fortunate to have the support of the cardinals and catholics. Archbishop Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (a leading church figure in North America and also plays a key role in the church's anti-abortion efforts), for instnace, strongly defends Pope Benedict's handling of sex abuse scandal.

As the church celebrates Easter, it labors under one of the darkest clouds over it in recent memory. Pope Benedict XVI, who once headed the church agency responsible for defrocking priests, has come under fire recently because his agency didn't defrock a Wisconsin priest who sexually abused children decades ago. He has also been criticized for his handling of European sex abuse cases when he was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Now, top Catholic officials are on the offensive, attacking media outlets for allegedly sensationalizing the accusations and reporting what the Vatican has called inaccurate information.  (DiNardo puts his weight behind pope)

Pope Benedict was previously archbishop of Munich to Rome, who later head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful office that among other things investigates clerical sex abuse.
Besides Cardinal  DiNardo, we see support from other cardinals as well:

Cardinals across Europe used their Holy Thursday sermons to defend Pope Benedict XVI from accusations he played a role in covering up sex abuse scandals, and an increasingly angry Vatican sought to deflect any criticism in the Western media.

The relationship between the church and the media has become increasingly bitter as the scandal buffeting the 1 billion-member church has touched the pontiff himself. On Wednesday, the church singled out The New York Times for criticism in an unusually harsh attack. (Cardinals defend pope on church sex abuse scandal)

On the local scene, we have ...

At CHC (City Harvest Church), Jack Neo, one of their celebrated church members, an illustrous movie director and producer, had affair with a young actress.

Singapore's Lighthouse Evangelism Church Pastor Rony Tan made fun of Buddhism and Taosim, and was called up by the Singapore's Internal Security Department (ISD).


The above three incidents show the powerful (or destructive) role that the media can play. Though the Jack Neo's case is of course on a much smaller scale,  we see the local newspaper (such as Lianhe Wanbao)  being just as destructive. Media Sensationalism (shameless voyeurism?) ... why has the church and christians become the target of media sensationalism? Is it because we are perceived to be good, kind-hearted people. If we do something wrong, it would immediately be publicise and sensationalised.