The whole thing was a National Catholic Reporter hit piece. I don't know what to take at face value on their say so. Actually nothing on face value. I don't know whether the pope once called EWTN a work of the devil OR whether EWTN now get's the pope's blessing.
Francis didn't call EWTN a work of the devil; he
might have been saying some things they did were the work of the devil. The linked article does offer a link to what it's talking about.
The quote in question, which seems to originate from
this article in La Civilta Cattolica from two years ago, is this:
One of the participants tells the pope about the situation of the Slovak Church and the internal tensions. “Some even see you as heterodox,” he says, “while others idealize you. We Jesuits try to overcome this division.” He asks: “How do you deal with people who look at you with suspicion?”
There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope. I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the Church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.
(the first paragraph is the question, the second is the beginning of Francis's response--there's more, but that's the key part)
Some sources at the time, including National Catholic Reporter, interpreted him as referring to EWTN. While that's possible, I am not so sure it is true. This meeting was in Slovakia, not the United States, and Francis makes no reference to it being in America. Given the question was preceded by talking about the tensions of the Slovak Church, for all I know there's a Catholic television channel in that country.
At any rate, the "work of the devil" in context is not in reference to whatever that television channel is, but the "attacks and insults" at the church, which he doesn't actually say the channel is guilty of (he says the channel "has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope" but the "work of the devil" is in reference to attacks on the church, not him specifically).
Did Francis have EWTN in mind? I don't know, as I can't read his mind. But to take that statement as him saying EWTN is "a work of the devil" requires one to assume that this unnamed station is EWTN and to ignore the fact he doesn't say the television channel is the work of the devil, but the "attacks and insults" are--and he is referring not to attacks and insults on himself, but attacks and insults on the church.
www.ncronline.org
