The Meaning of Headlines: 'in the fold'

The Meaning of Headlines: 'in the fold' - religion

The International New York Times had the following headline on July 4, 2015: ‘Pope Francis’ Visit to Latin America Will Test His Ability to Keep Catholics in the Fold.’ What does ‘in the fold’ mean?

The article discusses Pope Francis’s comments on topics ranging from climate change to income inequity since his papacy commenced in March 2013 and what this means for his visit to South America on Sunday July 6 – specifically to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

What has this to do with ‘the fold?’ The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines ‘fold’ as ‘an enclosure for sheep’ and ‘a flock of sheep’ or ‘a group of people or institutions that share a common faith, belief, activity, or enthusiasm.’ The headline is therefore suggesting that the visit to South America will test the Pope’s ability to keep his followers (the common group) in the ‘enclosure’ – in other words, in the Catholic church.

Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus (third edition, 2013, by the Philip Lief Group) defines the phrase ‘bring into the fold’ as ‘absorb, accept, admit, adopt, embrace, enfold, include, incorporate, and convert.’ Convert is the appropriate one here, in reference to religion. Fold can also be the pleat, gather, or draping of the papal vestment, and therefore ‘into the fold’ could mean bringing people into his side, to be closer to him. Statistically, if fold is used with a number, such as three-fold or ten-fold, it means multiplication – three times the amount, or ten times the amount.

Does the article present facts that support the headline? Yes, it does. The article adds that the Pope’s international diplomacy ‘will test his skills in what could be a much more difficult task: putting parishioners in pews and keeping them there.’ Parishioners are the followers, and pews are the seats in a church. The author writes of the ‘dwindling number of priests’ and the falling number of Catholics, particularly in Latin American countries once high in Catholic members (falling from 90% in the 1970s to 69% in 2014, according to a Pew Center survey). The author adds that, since the new papacy, there has been a rise in the number of seminary students studying to become priests, and that the Pope appeared to have ‘delivered a boost to the church’ through ‘observed widespread enthusiasm’ – but the Vatican does not have ‘statistics or more precise data on this.’ The article concludes with a statement from the Vatican: ‘I think that there are lots of people who realize that the Pope is coming to rescue the lost sheep.’

Hence the article has references to sheep (a traditional symbol for parishioners), trends in followers of the Catholic faith, and pews in churches.

Scorecard for the NYT headline is 98% - 'in the fold' has widespread understanding amongst readers, and for an already lengthy headline, this is a short, descriptive, succinct way to say that the Pope hopes to retain followers. I liked the author's phrase 'putting parishioners in pews' and would have liked to have seen that in the headline. But 'in the fold' is rather neat.

http://www.nytimes.com

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