While I continue to admire John Allen for his diligence as a journalist, I am increasingly frustrated by his concessions to - if not complete identification with - the worst stereotypes of the MSM, as with this 'analysis' of the Malta visit to date. In the process, he does not seem to realize how absurd some of his assumptions are!
Vatican strategy in Malta:
'Let Benedict be Benedict'
April 18, 2010
Valletta, Malta -
To the extent that the Vatican has a discernible public relations strategy for Pope Benedict XVI's weekend visit to the island nation of Malta, it might be expressed in a simple formula: "Let Benedict be Benedict."[Well, DUH! It's not a question of strategy at all - it's just a matter of fact! How can it be otherwise? Managing Benedict XVI (or any Pope for that matter) in terms of 'public relations' is a contradiction in terms.]
Rather than allowing the global media to set the agenda [Since when has Benedict XVI allowed the media to set his agenda, anyway???], which in practice would have meant a near-exclusive focus on the sexual abuse crisis, the Pontiff has instead concentrated on his core themes: Europe’s Christian roots, the struggle to defend human life and the family, a welcoming stance towards immigrants, and the important of not succumbing to secular values and relativism.
At least on the ground in this nation of 400,000, where 94 percent of the population is Catholic,
the strategy appears to be working. [
What strategy???? The Pope has always been himself - never tried to be anyone or anything other than who he is, with all the extraordinary endowments God gave him as well as his share of human failings].
Crowds for the pope have been large and lively, and the
Times of Malta led its day one wrap-up coverage by referring to the “enthusiastic welcome” the Pope received.
[Did anyone seriously expect anything else? When the Vicar of Christ comes to visit, it is always a landmark event in the life of the faithful!]
The Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, told reporters yesterday evening that the popular response to the Pope has
exceeded expectations.
[You, too, Fr. Lombardi! Why is there such skepticism and under-estimation about the esteem - in the past, it was veneration, no less - that the simple faithful have for the Pope?] To date, there’s been no hint of the protests over the Pope's handling of the sexual abuse crisis that some media coverage had predicted.
Despite the strong popular response,
it’s not clear that Benedict’s “be himself” strategy will succeed entirely in changing the subject. [DUH! As if the media will change their focus at all! Allen's whole approach is Exhibit #1 itself - the premise that because of the media's single-issue fixation should detract from the apostolic visit in any way. It did not in the USA, despite all the pre-visit doom-and-gloom - though going by recent polls, the US public at large appears to take their cue from the media.]
Aboard the papal plane en route to Malta, Benedict offered what his spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, described as a “discreet reference” to the sexual abuse crisis, referring to how the body of the Church is “wounded because of our sins.”
Beyond that, Benedict so far has not mentioned the crisis in any of his public remarks, and
spokespersons have yet to confirm whether he will or won’t meet victims before he leaves for Rome later today.
[Allen knows very well there would never be a pre-event announcement! if it happens, it happens!] (That’s if the Pope is able to leave; the clouds of volcanic ash currently disrupting air traffic across Europe have left this evening’s return flight a bit uncertain.)
[Check the Rome airport sites on line, Mr. Allen. Thew news is good today!]
Malta has recently been rocked by its own local version of the broader crisis, with ten men coming forward to claim that they were abused by four priests during the 1980s and 1990s at St. Joseph orphanage in Santa Venera. One of the alleged victims is a convicted murder who killed a man with a hammer in 1991 and then cut his body to pieces with a broken bottle, and who has linked that horrific crime to abuse he suffered at the orphanage.
Some of those ten men have requested a meeting with Pope Benedict to close what they called a “hurtful chapter.” Though that meeting remains uncertain, the victims have announced that Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the promoter of justice in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has agreed to receive them in Rome in June.
Interestingly, the most explicit commentary on the crisis during the pope’s trip so far has come not from the pontiff but from Malta’s president, George Abela, who welcomed Benedict yesterday at Luqa airport.
Abela, a Catholic attorney with a background in canon law, said it’s wrong to use the actions of a few to condemn the church as a whole, but he also called for church and state to work together towards more “transparent” and “effective” procedures to end abuse, “so that just will not only be done but seen to be done.”
Perhaps it says something that a politician, always more sensitive to public opinion, felt obliged to tackle the sex abuse issue head on, while the pope appeared more willing to follow his own lead.
Most of Benedict’s public commentary so far has begun and ended with the memory of St. Paul, whose famous shipwreck on Malta, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, this year marks its 1,950th anniversary. Benedict has repeatedly invoked the memory of that shipwreck as an example of how apparent misfortune can be used for God’s purposes.
This morning, the Pope will celebrate an open-air Mass and then hold a large meeting with Maltese youth this afternoon before returning to Rome – assuming, of course, that the papal plane is allowed to take off.
If Benedict has refused to allow the sexual abuse crisis to cloud his trip to Malta, however, perhaps he’ll also be able to skirt the physical clouds of ash that threaten to scuttle his return.
[There he goes again, straining and stretching his metaphors for effect. You're very good at metaphors, John - just make sure they fit! Does he really think the Pope's return trip to Rome will be cancelled? I just checked Rome Fiumicino airport's site this morning (BTW, Rome's airports were never closed) - and it reports that Dutch and German test flights at appear to be promising even for air flights north of the Alps.]
MSM is, of course, unrepentant and unrelenting...Look at the spin given to this story....
Pope plans to meet
with Malta abuse victims
By Nick Squires in Valletta
April 18, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI has bowed to international pressure and will on Sunday meet a group of Maltese men who claim they were sexually abused by Catholic priests while growing up in a Church-run orphanage.
Sources in Malta's capital, Valletta, said that the Pope would meet the men around lunchtime, after celebrating Mass in front of tens of thousands of Maltese faithful.
The pontiff, who turned 83 on Friday, could meet as many as eight of the victims, orphans who are now in their thirties.
That would be the largest group of sex abuse victims he has met during his five-year papacy – in 2008 he met five American victims during his visit to the US and a few months later he met another five victims in Australia.
An encounter with the Maltese victims would be a way for the Vatican to dampen down some of the anger over the paedophile sex abuse scandals which have emerged around the world in the last few months.
Their stories of abuse have been extensively reported in the Maltese and international press and the Vatican has been under huge pressure to arrange an encounter, at which the Pope will be expected to apologise on behalf of the Catholic Church.
Asked last night about the likelihood of such a meeting, Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, would only say that it would not be announced in advance and would be held in private.
The group of 10 men allege that they were systematically molested and sexually abused by Catholic priests at the St Joseph Home orphanage in the 1980s.
Court proceedings have started against three priests, but the victims complain that the process is moving "at a snail's pace". A fourth accused priest has fled to Italy.
Did anyone really doubt that if he found the time, the Pope would meet with the victims? Especially since they are a small group who are easy to assemble since they have been working for this meeting! He didn't need 'international pressure' for this. There was very little 'pressure' before he came to the United States, although there was speculation - then he surprised everyone by meeting with some victims Cardinal O'Malley brought to Washington from the Boston area. In Sydney, he made time before leaving the city to say early morning Mass for the victims and meet with them. No one has to tell Benedict XVI what he needs to do - he is what the Spanish call 'cumplido' - someone who always does the right and proper thing, big or small.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/04/2010 13:59]