Viewpoint: The terrorism of gossip

The contenders for the leadership of the Labour Party have now been decided, but the nominations process was plagued by media interference. This, Joe Egerton argues in Thinking Faith, exemplifies what Pope Francis means by the terrorism of gossip and is as harmful to the body politic as the Tudor terror that claimed the lives of John Fisher and Thomas More.

On 21 March this year, Pope Francis put aside his 'boring' prepared address to a gathering of religious and chose to speak instead about some of the vices that he considered to be a threat to religious life. A particular target was 'the terrorism of the gossip. Who gossips is a terrorist that throws a bomb and destroys. Gossip destroys'.

This was no unprecedented outburst. Pope Francis has repeatedly denounced the evil of gossip. In a 2013 homily, he described those who gossip as being 'persecutors and violent.' That homily started from the words in the Sermon on the Mount that will be read at Masses on 22 June this year, which is the feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More: 'Why do you inspect the splinter in your brother or sister's eye, but fail to notice the plank that is in your own eye? Or how come you tell your brother or sister "Just let me get rid of the splinter from your eye", and look! There's a plank in your eye.' Pope Francis drew attention to the strong language that Jesus employs:

To read on see: www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/terrorism-gossip?utm_source=Thinking+Faith&utm_campaign=b69d50eebf-TF_201506206_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_620a4d7197-b69d50eebf-68834617&mc_cid=b69d50eebf&mc_eid=2de5f0eba5