ABC: Consecrated virginity 'controversial'
July 15, 2011
An ABC Nightline human-interest story on consecrated virgins attempted to portray consecrated virginity as a "controversial Catholic rite."
In a story headlined "Consecrated Virgins Become Brides of Christ in Controversial Catholic Rite," Bryan Taylor and Jenna Milman reported that "the vocation has always been controversial. It was banned for many centuries until Pope John Paul II reinstated it."
In truth, the Order of Virgins was restored in 1970, eight years before Blessed John Paul II took office. "The Order of Virgins is a special expression of consecrated life that blossomed anew in the Church after the Second Vatican Council," Pope Benedict said in 2008. "Its roots, however, are ancient; they date back to the dawn of apostolic times when, with unheard of daring, certain women began to open their hearts to the desire for consecrated virginity, in other words, to the desire to give the whole of their being to God, which had had its first extraordinary fulfillment in the Virgin of Nazareth and her 'yes.'"
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