Four months after he was exposed as a serial plagiarist, longtime Vatican communications adviser Fr. Thomas Rosica has resigned as chief executive officer of Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, the television network he founded and built in Toronto over 16 years.
In a written statement, he continued to refer to his presentation of other people’s work as his own — including material from famous writers such as the book critic Michiko Kakutani and even the Pope himself — as “errors in not properly acknowledging individuals and attributing sources in my writings.”
For this, he said, he asked forgiveness.
He has previously claimed to have relied on material prepared by interns, which led to criticism on social media that he seemed to be dodging blame and unloading it onto subordinates.
Essays and commentary that included plagiarized material appeared over several years on the Salt and Light website, in the National Post, The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Sun, among others, including Catholic media. This was first revealed in investigations by Dorothy Cummings McLean of LifeSiteNews, and Mathew Block, editor of The Canadian Lutheran magazine.
In many cases, the plagiarized sentences were descriptions of basic facts or context, often several sentences long. They came from sources as diverse as Wikipedia, a prominent Vatican correspondent, news wire stories and religious blogs.
One column by Rosica in the Windsor Star included a sentence from Pope Francis presented as Rosica’s own words, in a passage copied from the National Catholic Reporter, but lacking the original quotation marks. Many of these media outlets have since corrected, clarified, or added proper attribution to his published articles.
Tony Gagliano, chair of the board of directors of Salt and Light and a prominent media executive, said Rosica’s role will be taken over on an interim basis by Chief Operating Officer Alex Du.
“Together with our founder, Gaetano Gagliano, Fr. Rosica played a critical role in the founding and growth of this network over the past 16 years. The involvement of many young women and men on our various media platforms has made a positive difference in the lives of many people around the world. We are grateful to Fr. Rosica for his leadership.”
In February, Rosica resigned from the governing body of the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto.
He has had a deep influence on Catholic public life in Canada, especially in education, and as head of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.
In Rome, he has served a trusted English language spokesman for the Vatican on delicate matters including the recent summit on sex abuse of children by clergy.
“It has been a great privilege to work closely with our founder, Gaetano Gagliano, his family, and a dedicated Board of Directors on this media project,” Rosica’s statement said. “I am grateful for the young adults working with us who helped realize Gaetano’s vision for Catholic Television and media. I give thanks for the good that was done and for the blessings received.”
“I am confident that Salt and Light will continue to grow and bring the flavor of the Gospel and the light of Christ to the world,” Rosica said.
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