In less than a year, Pope Francis has become an icon. In media alone, Time magazine, The New Yorker, Esquire, The Advocate and Vanity Fair (in Spanish) have all cashed in on the popularity of Pope Francis by using his photo on their covers. One of the more recent cover stories, however, was a piece in the February 13th issue of Rolling Stone.

The nearly 8,000 word article titled ‘Pope Francis: The Times They Are A-Changing,’ told the story of Pope Francis through multiple interview and on the spot reporting. It covered many angles, included much of Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s biographical information – and exuded a continuous disdain for the Church and the previous Holy Father. Pitting Popes Benedict and Francis against one another has been a favorite tactic this past year of journalists attempting to mole Francis’ pontificate so that it fits a particular agenda.

While the two popes are in sync on the essentials of the Faith, the media takes a different approach. Much media commentary and analysis since Pope Francis’ election has focused on the dissimilarities between Pope Francis and the two previous Holy fathers. And much of it, coming mostly from supposedly “progressive” Church sources, has been too Pope Benedict’s disadvantage.

The problem is that the secular media are in a tricky spot. They want Pope Francis to fit into a particular box, but his track record as “a faithful son of the Church” is proving difficult to fudge. His overwhelming popularity – driven in part by his candid and down-to-earth manner and in part by the humility with which he practices what he preaches – makes him impossible to ignore. The solution, then, seems to be to compare and contrast him with the shy, intellectual Pope Benedict, resulting in sloppy journalism that distorts the facts about both.

With that said, it’s undeniable too that Pope Francis has earned some of his headlines by speaking up on some of the Church’s thornier issues. Good advice to Catholics, and to all people with a genuine curiosity about our new pope, is to go to the source, Read his writings, read the Catholic press and its reporting of his talks and subscribe to The Pope App on your smartphone.

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Editorial from Our Sunday Visitor, reprinted in the bulletin of May 25, 2014, of St. Isaac Jogues Parish in Hinsdale, IL.