Cardinal Vesco’s Words Were Taken Out of Context

 

Written by Clément Laloyaux and Christophe Herinckx

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in French by CathoBel. We are publishing this English translation with CathoBel’s permission, alongside our translation of Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco’s full interview, so readers can consider his remarks in their original context and evaluate the controversy for themselves. —ML]

The controversy has passed 600,000 views. On his social media accounts, American Bishop Robert Barron has sharply criticized Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers, drawing on an interview the cardinal gave to CathoBel. But while the first quotation he used, concerning the Church’s call to conversion, was taken out of context, the second does not even appear in the cardinal’s remarks. So what happened?

He is one of the most influential voices in contemporary Catholicism. Bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in the United States, Bishop Robert Barron is also — and above all — the most-followed Church figure in the world after the pope. He has more than five million followers across his various social media platforms. He also heads the organization Word on Fire, a veritable Catholic media empire.

Suffice it to say that when the bishop speaks up online, he knows how to make himself heard. And he does not hesitate to go on the offensive, as shown by his previous broadsides against the Synod on Synodality, the Paris Olympic Games, and even John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” performed at Jimmy Carter’s funeral.