[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]
Alex Wagner was noticeably gleeful on her MSNBC program on 10 November 2014 about Pope Francis reassigning Cardinal Raymond Burke from a prominent role at the Vatican to patron of the Knights of Malta. Wagner hyped this move as "a strong message to arch-conservatives in the Catholic Church – reform or be removed." The left-wing host later underlined that the pontiff "demoted hardline U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke" and this was supposedly a "clear message to his [Francis's] conservative critics."
Wagner soon added that "the Vatican's announcement comes just days after Pope Francis excommunicated an Argentine priest who admitted to sexually abusing four teenagers" – with the implication that Cardinal Burke's demotion is somehow equivalent to the punishment of a sex abuser.