AP doubles down on pope misquote

Pope Francis

WASHINGTON – The Associated Press has issued a correction to a misquote of Pope Francis that touched off a firestorm of controversy and outrage.

But the correction does not change the meaning of what AP originally reported and still stands in stark contrast to what the Italian news media reported the pope had said.

AP now says Pope Francis, rather than praising Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as “an angel of peace,” actually called him “a bit of an angel of peace.”

AP originally reported Saturday: “Pope Francis praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an ‘angel of peace’ during a meeting Saturday.”

That caused a chorus of outrage that the pope would call the Holocaust-denying and terrorist-sponsoring Abbas an “angel of peace,” especially as the visit came just days after the Vatican announced it planned to formally recognize Palestinian statehood in a treaty.

Another outcry ensued when it turned out Italian media quoted the pope as saying something far different than what AP reported.

Italy’s La Stampa had the pope telling Abbas: “May the angel of peace destroy the evil spirit of war. I thought of you: May you be an angel of peace.”

In this version, far from calling Abbas an angel of peace, the pope asked him to become one. The pope may have even insinuated that when he thought of “the evil spirit of war,” he thought of Abbas. And then he asked Abbas to be peaceful.

The original quote from AP was picked up by news outlets around the world.

The New York Times and BBC have now published stories attempting to clarify why they went with the misquote.

Here’s what those involved in the controversy were saying by Tuesday:

• AP said it “erroneously omitted the two words when quoting the pope.”

• The New York Times blamed the pope’s soft voice or trouble with the translation of a verb.

• The BBC pointed to the Vatican, saying it had “clarified” the pope’s comment.

• The Vatican spokesman said he didn’t quite catch what was said, and, furthermore, it was a private exchange (although it was made with reporters present).

CNN, which doesn’t use AP, portrayed it as the establishment media versus the Italian press.

“News outlets including the BBC, The New York Times and The Associated Press form the frontline of the ‘Abbas= angel’ camp, quoting the Pope’s remarks in a raft of stories on Sunday,” while adding, “Italian media, though, tell a different story.”

The pope spoke to Abbas in Italian, which was translated into Arabic.

AP correction

AP said it reviewed videotape as well as written notes before publishing its correction and determined it had merely omitted two words.

The corrected version of the story still says the pope called Abbas an angel of peace.

Here are the first three paragraphs of the “corrected” version from AP:

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an “angel of peace” during a meeting Saturday at the Vatican that underscored the Holy See’s warm relations with the Palestinians as it prepares to canonize two 19th century nuns from the region.

Francis made the compliment during the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of an official audience in the Apostolic Palace. He presented Abbas with a medallion and explained that it represented the “angel of peace destroying the bad spirit of war.”

Francis said he thought the gift was appropriate since “you are a bit an angel of peace.” During his 2014 visit to Israel and the West Bank, Francis called both Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres men of peace.

New York Times non-correction

The New York Times did not issue a correction or a retraction or even mention it had published the AP account.

The Times did publish a story that implied the blame belonged to either the pope’s soft voice or the translator:

Pope Francis’ sotto voce greeting to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority during a meeting at the Vatican on Saturday, in which he referred to Mr. Abbas as an ‘angel of peace,’ but with an uncertain verb, has caused a linguistic and political furor that is still resonating days later.

Webster’s defines “sotto voce” as “very softly” and “in a private matter.”

The pope may have been speaking softly, but reporters were standing right next to him and Abbas.

A video provided by an agency called Rome Reports captured the exchange, which provided subtitles with the same quote as AP. But a reporter’s notebook in plain view indicates just how close reporters were.

The key exchange appears at the 1:20 mark:

The Times also referred to a linguistic “furor,” while, unlike any of the other publications trying to explain what it reported, blaming a possible misunderstanding on a verb.

The Times somehow concluded, “It all seemed to boil down to the difference between the verb ‘sei,’ Italian for ‘you are,’ and ‘sia,’ which means ‘may you be.’”

The Times also said that at least one Italian outlet, the country’s main news agency ANSA, reported the pope called Abbas an angel of peace. However, if true, ANSA appears to have pulled the story because it is not on its website.

BBC non-correction

The BBC also failed to mention it had run the AP story with the misquote.

But, in a follow-up story, the BBC appeared to blame the Vatican, in a story that claimed it “has clarified” comments made by the pope to Abbas.

But no clarification was in the story; only an observation that a Vatican spokesman said the pope’s words had been meant as an “encouragement.”

Vatican non-clarification

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi issued a statement on Sunday that said he could not hear the pope’s exact words.

What about asking the translator?

“[T]he Vatican never reports on what the pope says during private discussions, and that what is expressed during an exchange of gifts is not meant to be recorded,” added Lombardi.

Furthermore, “What he says in private conversations are not official declarations, so they are not officially documented.”

However, how the pope could expect to hold a private discussion in a room full of reporters and photographers was not explained.

In an op-ed Tuesday, WND CEO and Editor Joseph Farah explained why the Vatican should set the record straight”

I would strongly urge Pope Francis and the Vatican to clarify the matter because it is important. It’s important because of Abbas’ lifetime commitment to terrorism and armed struggle against the Jewish state of Israel, including his role in leading and funding the deadly Munich Olympics attack and his doctoral thesis in which he minimized the toll of the Holocaust and, at the same time, blamed Jews for most of the Nazi carnage.

The reporting of the pope’s statement was believable based on his history of flattering statements about Abbas. He previously referred to him, during his visit to Bethlehem, as a “man of peace.”

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