Yesterday’s edition of The Pilot, published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, carried a flattering story about Justice Antonin Scalia’s attendance at the Catholic Lawyer’s Guild annual Red Mass, held on March 26 at Boston’s Holy Name Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Traditionally the Red Mass opens the Court’s term, but it was delayed this year because of scheduling issues. While The Pilot’s story reported on Scalia’s talk after the Mass at a luncheon sponsored by the Guild, it was silent about a controversy that was created by Scalia between Church and the lunch.
As Scalia was leaving the Mass, a Boston Herald reporter, Laurel J. Sweet, asked him whether he receives a lot of criticism for publicly proclaiming his conservative Catholic beliefs. "You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, flicking his hand under his chin. "That’s Sicilian," he said. He continued: "It’s none of their business. This is my spiritual life. I shall lead it the way I like." The Boston Herald article described the under-the-chin gesture as "obscene". This led Justice Scalia to write a letter to the Herald (full text) complaining that the gesture was not obscene, but merely meant "I couldn’t care less".
It turns out that free-lance photographer Peter A. Smith actually caught Scalia’s gesture on film. Smith is a part-time faculty member in Journalism at Boston University and was covering the event for the Catholic Pilot. As the controversy raged, he released the photo and gave his account of what happened: "The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, 'To my critics, I say, Vaffanculo, punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin.'" The Italian phrase means "f--- you." The Boston Herald reporter who had asked Scalia the original question agreed with Smith’s story, but said he did not hear Scalia say "Vaffanculo".
Proving the old adage that "no good deed goes unpunished", yesterday's Boston Herald reported on photojournalist Peter Smith's fate. His decision to release of the photo of Justice Scalia led The Pilot to fire the professor-photographer who had freelanced for the paper for ten years.
