Reuters' pre-MP report: less good.

Yesterday I summarized the NYT's pre-MP coverage and declared it not so bad.

Today, Reuters released its coverage ("Pope to authorize Latin mass in coming days") and it is less not so bad, in fact, it is bad.

From the opening lines:

"Pope Benedict will tell Roman Catholic priests in coming days that they can say mass in Latin as a concession to traditionalists.

However, the move has raised concern about reviving parts of the old liturgy that Jews consider anti-Semitic."

There's a one-two punch. The document described as a "concession to traditionalists" and "anti-Semitic" one after the other.

Moving on:

The Latin liturgy was sidelined by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s in favor of local languages in an attempt to make worship more accessible to the bulk of churchgoers.

After months of speculation that the old rite, known as the Tridentine mass, could return, the Vatican said on Thursday the Pope had met senior clerics a day earlier to discuss "the content and the spirit" of a papal document on the matter.

...

The document is known as a 'motu propio' and will be issued in Latin, still the official language of the Vatican.

...

Traditionalists can now say mass in Latin only with prior permission from a bishop, and the liturgy is heard only rarely.

Good job, guys, you couldn't even spell "motu proprio" correctly. Seriously, how unprofessional.

The article ends with three paragraphs on the bogus anti-Semitic accusation, and ends with the obligatory "Pope Benedict stirred inter-faith tensions with the Muslim world last year by making a speech in Germany including a medieval quote about Islam being spread by violence."

Really, you'd think he hadn't done anything in between that speech and issuing this document.