Praising Francis is not a slight to Benedict

As we approach the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, it is not difficult to find him top of mind.

His achievements over the past 12 months are quite remarkable, from the beginnings of cleaning up the politically charged and opaque Roman curia and Vatican bank to reaching out to the poor and disenfranchised around the world.

Having said this, it is no slight on Pope Benedict and his papacy. Mainstream media finds it necessary to praise Francis and by extension knock Benedict. (On this note, I saw the first example of media praising Francis without dumping on Benedict the other day during a hard-hitting PBS documentary about the Vatican and child abuse. Pope John Paul II took the brunt of the criticism, but that’s another story for another time.)