Michael Kelly, deputy editor of The Irish Catholic, and a Fianna Fail cumann member of Dublin South Central has an unsourced article in this weeks Irish Catholic claiming the Irish bishops will come out in support of Lisbon II.
Not only is unsourced material unworthy of a front page in a respectable newspaper, but it is despicable that a journalist who is a member of a political party should not disclose this to the paper's readership.
They have words to describe this type of journalism: Propaganda could be one, piffle the other.
Bishops to back Lisbon II
Michael Kelly
The Bishops' Conference is set to adopt an unequivocal pro-Lisbon approach to the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty The Irish Catholic understands.
The Church came in for sharp criticism from politicians after a statement in the run up to the first Lisbon Treaty referendum made very positive statements about the treaty, but, crucially, stopped short of an endorsement.
Now, The Irish Catholic understands that Government assurances on the right to life and other sensitive ethical issues will lead the Bishops' Conference to be clearer in its support.......
A well-placed Church source confirmed to The Irish Catholic that in the second Lisbon referendum, due to be held later this year, a stronger statement of support will be issued by a committee of the Bishops' Conference. At this stage it is unclear whether that statement would come from the Standing Committee or the bishops' Committee on Europe.
Another senior figure privately admitted to The Irish Catholic that the inconclusive statement on Lisbon ''may have caused some unnecessary confusion''.
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