By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, July 12, 2022
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org.
Benedict XVI has been in the news this week—not because of anything he has done or said, but because of what has been said about him.
First a notorious Italian “journalist,” Tomasso De Benedetti, decided that it would be fun to post a false story that the retired Pope had died. To give the report more credibility, he made the bogus “announcement” on a phony Twitter account, set up under the name of Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference. Naturally, the report caused an internet sensation, until the hoax was exposed. …