Cardinal Wilfrid Napier has denounced Catholic broadcaster Raymond Arroyo, comparing him to Ulster Protestant leader Ian Paisley.
In a tweet, the cardinal said Arroyo’s show The World Over was like a “throwback to the 1960’s & 70’s” when radical Protestants “fulminated against [the] Catholic Faith in general, & [the] Pope in particular!”
Should read: “The World Over” hosted by Raymond Aroyo is like a throwback to the 1960’s & 70’s, when Ian Paisley & his ilk fulminated against Catholic Faith in general, & Pope in particular! I’ve still to hear a programme that doesn’t report negatively on or attack Pope Francis!
Raymond Arroyo has achieved prominence with his weekly EWTN talk show, which takes a largely conservative line and has been critical of Pope Francis and his allies.
His interview with Bishop Martin Holley, who was removed from the Diocese of Memphis earlier this year, was criticised by another bishop, who described the show as “deplorable” and “fake news”.
Cardinal Napier’s comparison of Arroyo with former Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley is particularly severe.
Paisley founded and led Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, and also led the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. Throughout the Troubles he was regarded as a firebrand, both politically and theologically.
In 1988, he interrupted a speech by Pope John Paul II in the European Parliament, denouncing him as the “Antichrist”. He had previously criticised the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret for meeting Pope John XXIII in 1958, saying they had committed “spiritual fornication and adultery” by meeting the Pope.
He later mellowed in his rhetoric, expressing sympathy for Catholics at the death of Pope John Paul II.
Raymond Arroyo appeared to respond to Cardinal Napier’s tweet later on Monday:
“It’s your obligation to speak the truth, and everyone can either take it or leave it. But truth must be in us. We live in such a poverty of truth today.” – Mother Angelica (to me many years ago.) pic.twitter.com/XS9WOwSZkx
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