NY Times Can't Find Pope Supporters

It's not unusual for media outlets to have pre-prepared obituaries for famous people, especially if the health and age of those people indicate that the obit may be soon needed. The NY Times had a piece pretty much done for the Pope, and it was full of criticism of the Pope and his policies, but it was missing something rather important. The boys at Powerline discovered this amazing obit that was posted on the NY Times website:

Pope John Paul II Dies; Times Can't Find Someone Who Liked Him

Pope John Paul II died this afternoon. The New York Times reports on his papacy in an article that inadvertently tells us more than the Times really wanted us to know. The Times had its criticisms of John Paul's papacy ready to go, but apparently went looking for something good to say about the Pope at the last minute:

Even as his own voice faded away, his views on the sanctity of all human life echoed unambiguously among Catholics and Christian evangelicals in the United States on issues from abortion to the end of life.

need some quote from supporter

John Paul II's admirers were as passionate as his detractors, for whom his long illness served as a symbol for what they said was a decrepit, tradition-bound papacy in need of rejuvenation and a bolder connection with modern life.

"The situation in the Catholic church is serious," Hans Kung, the eminent Swiss theologian, who was barred by from teaching in Catholic schools because of his liberal views, wrote last week. "The pope is gravely ill and deserves every compassion. But the Church has to live. ...

In my opinion, he is not the greatest pope but the most contradictory of the 20th century. A pope of many, great gifts, and of many bad decisions!"

Among liberal Catholics, he was criticized for his strong opposition to abortion, homosexuality and contraception, as well as the ordination of women and married men. Though he was never known as a strong administrator of the dense Vatican bureaucracy, he kept a centralizing hand on the selection of bishops around the world and enforced a rigid adherence to many basic church teachings among the clergy and Catholic theologians.

There you have it. The Times' criticisms are ready to go, a few good words for the Pope are an afterthought.

Powerline also got a screen grab of the website before they removed the notation about needing some comments from a supporter. You can see it here.