The Church in Ireland is suffering under a ‘soft persecution’ with an anti-Catholic bias infecting media portrayals of it both north and south of the border.

That’s according to Fr Timothy Bartlett who has served in prominent leadership roles in the Church including the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in 2018 which culminated in the visit of Pope Francis.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph he gave as an example the tendency to equate all institutional sexual abuse with the Catholic Church. He also instanced a tendency to dismiss what the Church has to say on any subject, even concern for the environment, by continually referring to the sex abuse crisis.

Fr Bartlett also mentioned that on almost every issue, particularly with BBC Northern Ireland, there was “a lack of understanding of Catholicism”. He made his comments as the BBC is embroiled in controversy over liberal/left ideological bias within the station.

As if to confirm the charge of journalistic carelessness about matters Catholic, the Belfast Telegraph described Fr Bartlett as having worked with the “Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Sean Daly”.  They appear to have combined the names of the late Cardinal Cahal Daly and the retired Cardinal Sean Brady.