Brendan O’ReganCommentators are intrigued by Pope Francis
‘The man is big, he’s cool, he’s a genius’ – so said a young homeless man in last week’s Panorama special The Pope’s Revolution (BBC 1 Wed).
It followed a familiar narrative with regard to the Pope, but there were some distinctive features. Presenter-producer Jane Corbin begged a few questions by couching his reforms in terms of ‘revolution’. Is that really what Pope Francis is about? Is it a structural revolution or more incremental change? Or is it to a revolution in the hearts and souls of individuals?
I thought the programme was weakest on the latter. I like the contributions of Rabbi Abraham Skorka (pictured), a friend of Francis from Argentina (he thought Francis was a leader who showed his people that he was one of them). Also it was the first time I’d seen his sister, Maria Elena – she remembered him always being ‘warm and protective’.
In St Peter’s Square we saw him giving a warm greeting to an Argentinean priest he knew and inviting the surprised cleric for a spin in the papal jeep. That priest, Fr Fabian Baez, thought the Pope was traditional but not conservative, and that political categories of left and right wing were not the ‘parameters’ of the Pope’s heart.
The Pope’s actions during the ‘dirty war’ in Argentina were discussed briefly. It was mentioned that one of the priests allegedly not protected by Francis in those days had refuted the charge, and we heard from dissident lawyer Alicia Oliveira who had been helped by him at much risk to himself.
Much was made of dark elements in the Curia lurking in the Vatican corridors, though their opposition to the reforms Francis is implementing was silent for now. The only concrete opposition we heard about came from US radio host Rush Limbaugh who thought the Pope’s criticism of aspects of capitalism amounted to Marxism.
The programme made the same mistake as the similar Channel 4 documentary I reviewed recently, suggesting that it’s hypocrisy for the Church to teach that homosexual acts are a sin while there are allegations of a ‘gay lobby’ in the Vatican. Can the Church not teach anything until everyone in the Vatican is saintly?
A further mistake was to assume that Francis’ pastoral approach to homosexuals somehow is at odds with his public opposition to same sex marriage in Argentina a few years ago.
Another Jesuit called Francis featured on Sagairt, an excellent new documentary series from TG4 on Sundays and repeated Monday nights. The first episode introduced us to the three priests whose lives we follow. Fr Frainc Mac Brádaigh SJ was enthusiastic about the approach his namesake was taking, but thought structural change in the Church would be gradual.
We saw him at a cross-community Easter event in Garigavon and visiting prisoners in Maghaberry Prison, where he is a part-time chaplain. Fr Dónal Ó Briain ministered in Baile Mhúirne and Cúil Aodha in Cork and was obviously stretched by the amount of work he had to do. He thought priests were getting a ‘raw deal’ because of the child abuse crisis. Fr Clem McManus was on sabbatical on Inis Meáin and was hurt by the way priests were perceived because of because of the scandals.
Having not worn black for a while he went back to wearing priestly garb because he felt you should show who you are. Once someone had spat in front of him after this, and it still seemed to hurt.
Finally, some random snippets. One of the funniest media moments was on Newstalk’s Breakfast Show, Monday of last week, when Gerry Adams’ cuckoo clock went off in the background when he was being interviewed by Ivan Yates (pictured)! I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere.
That night BBC 2’s comedy show Rev tackled the same sex marriage issue. It was quite funny seeing Rev. Adam trying to give the couple a Church blessing without it turning into a ‘gay marriage’.
While the show was largely nudging us towards approval, the other side got a look in and I thought it was ending with Adam conflicted, but the heavy hand of political correctness and same-sex marraige campaigning won out over subtlety as he performed a marriage ceremony behind closed church doors.
And I wasn’t impressed by Enda Kenny’s profanity, heard on Newstalk’s Breakfast Show on Thursday, when he joked with an audience at the US Embassy. Sour note.
