The Vatican has admitted that it digitally blurred out a portion of a media handout photo of a letter in a way that The Associated Press claims alters the image’s significance and violates the standards of photojournalism.
The photo was released by the Vatican’s communications office, one day before the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ election and a few weeks after Francis condemned the spread of fake news as “evil” in a message to journalists.
The photo is of a February 7th letter from emeritus Pope Benedict XVI to the Vatican’s chief of communications, Monsignor Dario Vigano.
In the letter, Benedict responds to Monsignor Vigano’s request that he review a new volume of books about Pope Francis’ theology. But a blurred portion of the letter reveals that Benedict told him he did not have time to complete the request.
In the part of the letter that is more visible in the photo, Pope Benedict writes that the new book series is evidence of the “foolish prejudice” of Francis’ critics. He adds that the books demonstrate the “interior continuity between the two pontificates, with all the differences in style and temperament.”
The letter was reportedly read out in full during a news conference. Monsignor Vigano appeared to use it to repudiate Francis’ critics who claim his papal style is a significant departure from that of his predecessor.
However, at the very end of the letter, Pope Benedict appears to state that he has not read the entire 11-part book series and, as a result, would not be able to deliver a sound theological assessment.
On Wednesday, the Vatican admitted to the Associated Press that it had blurred the final two lines of the first page ― the part where Benedict starts to explain that he did not actually read the new book project.
The communications office spokesman did not explain why the lines were blurred but said that the Vatican never intended for the full letter to be released.
Most major news media sites have policies that restrict editors from digitally adding or subtracting from photographs.
So much for the Vatican’s condemnation of “fake news”!
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