By Tim Dowling
The Guardian
September 16, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/sep/16/benedict-pope-vatican-catholics
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| The pope gives one of his weekly audiences in St Peter’s Square. |
You might have heard that the pope is visiting. If you haven't, it is not TV's fault. On Monday, Peter Tatchell presented a largely critical documentary on the pope, and last night there were two more examinations for your consideration.
In Benedict: Trials of a Pope (BBC2), the Catholic journalist (and former Dominican friar) Mark Dowd, investigated the manifold troubles besetting pope Benedict XVI, by all accounts an enigmatic and often contradictory figure. A native of Bavaria, he was conscripted into the Hitler Youth as a child, spent time as a prisoner of war, and was a progressive thinker and a popular university lecturer, who went on to become the doctrinally conservative Cardinal Ratzinger, otherwise known as God's rottweiler.
Dowd makes clear that he was no fan of the idea of the hardline Ratzinger becoming pope five years ago, but he is scrupulously fair when it comes to unpicking complex issues. His central question is not whether the Catholic church is in crisis – it is – but whether it is fair to blame the pope personally.
The year 1968 was a turning point for Ratzinger. Hans Küng, who taught with him at the time, described him as being traumatised by the Europe-wide student uprisings. When the university campus was occupied, he packed his bags and left, embarking on a path that would turn him into the church's number one doctrinal enforcer. His views on the dangers of secularism and moral relativism put him in direct opposition to those who criticised the church's position on Aids prevention in Africa and on homosexuality.
Rather late in the documentary, Dowd told viewers he was gay himself, explaining his decision to maintain his faith despite the church's policy and some ill-chosen words from the pope himself, who once called homosexuality a "disordered sexual inclination". "Why do I stay in this church?" asked Dowd. "It's not a deal breaker for me."
It is the recent sex abuse scandals that threaten the pope most and, though no one programme could give a definitive answer on his failings, Dowd's main interviewee on the matter, papal biographer John Allen, chose to stress that the pope was the first to meet with victims, to apologise for the scandal and to embrace zero tolerance on sexual abuse in the clergy.
In short, he has done more than most, even though it is still nowhere near enough. The Vatican spokesman gave a rather different answer, one that made the problem all too clear. When asked by Dowd if the pope had made mistakes, his face set like plaster. "I don't think this question is appropriate to a documentary about the papal visit," he said.
The portrait that emerged from Dowd's grudging defence was that of a supremely compassionate man with a particular gift for saying the wrong thing at the worst possible time, who had the misfortune to become pope at this period in the church's history. This view was not overturned by the altogether more pope-friendly Vatican: The Hidden World (BBC4), which focused on the day-to-day business of the capital city of the Catholic church.
The tiny nation state makes for a vast and unwieldy subject: the Vatican possesses, among other things, its own daily newspaper, a radio station, a post office and a chemist where they don't sell condoms. The documentary wisely chose to concentrate on a few characters, including the security man, the starstruck papal photographer, an astronomer who works at the pope's own observatory and the woman who looks after the Vatican's more than 70,000 precious objects. They are all devout Catholics, given to breaking into beatific smiles when talking about their work. It's certainly a weird place, though, with weird rituals. The army of security guards who watch the pope hide from him during his daily walk in the garden, so his tranquillity is not disturbed. They even turn off the CCTV.
Overall, it was a compelling glimpse, one that made you feel a little privileged to be invited. In the end, the star of the show wasn't the holy father, but Valentino, a smiling altar boy, whose main ambition was to meet the pope, and who couldn't hold back the tears when he finally did. Oddly, given his devotion to his work, Valentino had decided he didn't want to be a priest. "I don't have the calling the way the others do," he said, still smiling. "I think I'll choose to be a person, like everyone else."
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