Catholic voters suffer from barrage of fake “Catholic” news

(RNS) — As the U.S. presidential election approaches, a thriving “fake news” business is targeting Catholics, especially those who are inclined to vote for Kamala Harris. Self-proclaimed “Catholic” websites and emailed news bulletins promote pro-Trump news stories, often going beyond responsible reporting.

The Loop, a daily email from the advocacy organization CatholicVote, and other similar partisan publications coat Donald Trump in shiny silver, attempting to show how he reflects Catholic values ​​and moral teachings. One new entrant that several diocesan bishops have roundly rejected is the Catholic Tribune syndicate, which publishes newspapers in several swing states that openly and ostentatiously support the indicted former president.

According to ProPublica, an award-winning “nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force,” the Catholic Tribune newspapers, which were mailed in October to homeowners in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, sought to persuade Catholic voters to vote for Trump. via Anti-Harris articles on transgender athletes, abortion and illegal immigration.

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Brian Timpone, a former television journalist from the Midwest, leads the Catholic Tribune network and its nearly 1,300 conservative local news websites as head of Pipeline Media. Its interconnected subsidiaries curate information with a conservative slant and filter content through local versions of the Catholic Tribune.

CatholicVote and The Loop, led by fellow Midwesterner Brian Burch, breathlessly announced Monday (Oct. 28) that five years ago, Harris, as a U.S. senator from California, attended the San Francisco Pride Parade. The Loop’s headline, “Harris Celebrates With Anti-Catholic Hate Group,” is consistent with other political commentary in the newsletter. The article includes a 30-second video that links Harris to old clips of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag queen group, ending with a voiceover: “Kamala Harris is standing with her/them, not you. Christians cannot stay at home on November 5th.”

Efforts to influence Catholic votes this election cycle may or may not work. But facts matter.

While abortion is central to Harris’ campaign, her Republican supporters, such as former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, note that returning to national restrictions under Roe v. Wade would end draconian state laws that put women’s lives at risk, as well as overly liberal laws that go beyond the limitations of Roe. The point is that Harris supports national legislation and Trump is happy to stand by and watch what happens in every state with a free for all.

While “Catholic” websites, magazines, and broadcast networks certainly support Republican victories across the ballot, they only report on how Democratic policies deviate from Catholic teachings, not how much they agree with them. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, once compared to the “praying Democratic Party,” has not taken the time to push back against pro-Trump “fake news.”

Almost none of the recent fake Catholic media is focusing on Trump’s promise to require insurance coverage and government funding for in vitro fertilization, apparently including surrogacy.

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Calling surrogacy “despicable,” Pope Francis repeated warnings from Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World, in which Huxley predicted that technology would solve the world’s problems but that humanity would suffer as a result.

Humanity is already suffering, but too many people are ignoring the possible consequences of a new Trump presidency. The United States is approaching a dangerous crossroads, and Catholic voters can make a difference.