
ride when journalists caught sight of him.
Few news agencies miss an opportunity to discredit the Catholic Church, and the Los Angeles Times seems anxious to lead the pack. At least every other day it sports a front-page story about scandals in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, of which, sadly, there is no dearth. But although the paper clearly despises the Church, I’m struck by its fascination with Catholicism. Few Vatican events pass that don’t find at least a small article in the Times. It has devoted assiduous coverage to the papal interregnum. Naturally, it misunderstands things, reading everything through purely political lenses. But one is struck by the newspaper’s fascination with everything Catholic. No doubt the editors see the Church as the longest, largest, and most-enduring political story in history. But beyond mere political curiosity, I think the secularist trend-setters discern something more in the Church. As Herod feared John the Baptist, but “liked to listen to him,” so contemporary liberalism loathes the Church, but likes to read about her. The Los Angeles Times’ very fascination with Rome affords some measure of hope for our ailing secular culture. Perhaps all is not lost, after all.