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Thank you. It is a big news story. Even if it happens in a place that most of us might not be able to find on a map the death of a popular Orthodox patriarch in the Republic of Georgia. How is it being covered? However, the mainstream media outlets,

how are they taking this story on, especially the aftermath of the succession that will inevitably take place?

Welcome back to Issues, etc. I'm Todd Wilkin.

Joining us to talk about media coverage of the death of a popular Orthodox patriarch in the

Republic of Georgia, Terry Mattingly, Senior Fellow on Communications and Culture at St. Constantine College

in Houston, Texas. He writes Rational Sheep, a substack newsletter on faith, family, and mass media.

He's author of the National On Religion column for the Andrews-McMeal Universal Syndicate,

and for two decades, he led the getreligion.org website.

Terry, welcome back.

Glad to be here.

During his five decades as patriarch, Georgia faced all kinds of challenges.

Why was Elia II so important, even newsworthy on a global scale?

Well, I think it's interesting in this kind of, for us, like you said, obscure country,

to realize how much of this man's life parallels some of the biggest stories in our time right now.

You can see it in the coverage in that MSM immediately jumped to the political angle,

...