The former Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, has written a scathing rebuke of papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, calling his attacks on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) “ugly and unjust.”
Writing for First Things, Archbishop Chaput commented on a recent article by Ivereigh in the Jesuit flagship magazine America, in which he described EWTN as a devil (diabolos) fomenting “schism” in the Church.
Over the last eight years, Ivereigh wrote, “a powerful U.S.-based media conglomerate has used its formidable wealth and power to turn a large portion of the people of God against Rome and its current occupant. And for good measure, against key reforms of the Second Vatican Council.”
“Frightening stuff,” the archbishop comments, “so where might this muscular wickedness spring from: Comcast? Facebook? George Soros’s Open Society Foundations? No.”
Today’s spirit of schism “is the work of those iniquitous devils at . . . EWTN,” Chaput observes tongue in cheek. “Yes, that’s the network founded by that arch-troublemaker and woman religious, Mother Angelica, and funded largely by tens of thousands of small donations from ordinary, faithful Catholic individuals and families.”
The archbishop notes that he sat on the board of EWTN for many years before retiring, insisting the enormously successful network “has managed to serve the gospel for decades now with skill and endurance where many others have failed.”
“Thus, it’s hard to read critics of the network without also sniffing their peculiar cologne of faux piety, jealousy, and resentment,” he adds.
“And any suggestion that EWTN is unfaithful to the Church, the Second Vatican Council, or the Holy See is simply vindictive and false,” he declares.
Ivereigh was reflecting on comments by Pope Francis himself, who during a recent trip to Hungary and Slovakia complained of “a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope,” which he described as “the work of the devil.”
Pope Francis ponders during the inauguration of a UNESCO chair at the Pontifical Lateran University on October 7, 2021 in Rome. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
In its report on the meeting, America magazine asserted the pope was referring to EWTN.
In his essay, Chaput describes Ivereigh as a sycophant, a flatterer, and a “courtier” of Pope Francis — a frequent criticism of the British journalist — and suggests that the pontiff would be better served by less servile flattery and more honesty.
“Ivereigh should, but likely won’t, be embarrassed by his America article,” Chaput writes. “The role of courtier doesn’t suit him.”