Further to the story first posted yesterday (on the preceding page of this thread) from the official website for the UK visit:
Catholic Church launches guide
to Pope’s visit amid fears
over current ‘controversies’
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
June 16, 2010
The Roman Catholic hierarchy has launched a PR campaign ahead of the Pope’s visit to Britain, amid fears that the public associates the Church with child abuse.
A new booklet aims to explain the purpose and importance of the papal trip and the Church’s contributions to society for those who are only aware of “current controversies”.
The head of Catholics in England and Wales, The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, said that the four-day tour in September will be a “very significant moment” for the country particularly in straitened economic times.
The Archbishop of Westminster said: “People that I speak to recognise that as a society we are entering into a period, maybe a prolonged period, which is going to be difficult. In times of difficulty, we need all the inner resources that we can muster and the resource of religious faith is a crucially important one for giving society stability and generosity, especially in times of financial constraint.
“People recognise that and therefore they recognise the importance and sensitivity of the message of the Pope, who will wish to say that faith in God is not a problem but a gift to be received.”
Benedict XVI has been invited by the Queen for the first state papal visit to Britain since the Reformation, but the historic trip has faced a series of setbacks.
The Catholic Church worldwide has been beset by allegations of clerical sex abuse dating back decades,
prompting high-profile calls for the Pontiff to be arrested upon arrival.
[It is intellectually dishonesT to report this 'with a straight face', as it were, knowing full well that it is an absurd stunT without any remotely valid basis. It is conceding effectively that the sick fantasy of the crush-the-Pope-at-any cost Hitchkins nuts is 'valid' outside cuckko-land]
Meanwhile concerns have been raised about the cost of the visit to taxpayers and churchgoers, raising fears that some public events will have to be scaled back.
About 300,000 copies of the new 32-page booklet are being printed and distributed to journalists, civil servants and council officials as well as every parish, in an attempt to set out clearly what the trip will involve and what the Church stands for.
It states: “It is not easy to convey the richness of the tradition of Catholic thought, and Catholicism can easily become defined in the public mind in the light of one or two current controversies. This is the gap in public knowledge that this pamphlet aims to address.”
It explains the history of relations between the Vatican and the British monarchy – which had “painful consequences” after Henry VIII’s split from Rome – as well as Catholic social teaching on poverty and relations with other Christian denominations and different faiths.
The booklet addresses “the scandal of child abuse committed by clergy” but insists safeguarding has become a “permanent part of the life of the Catholic Church”.
It also explains the significance of Cardinal Newman, the Victorian convert to Rome who will be beatified by the Pope during his visit. Cardinal Newman’s motto – Heart Speaks Unto Heart – has been adopted as the title for the papal visit.
A detailed itinerary is expected to be disclosed next month, after a Vatican delegation decides on the Pope’s exact movements, but Archbishop Nichols said the plan was still for the beatification Mass to take place at Coventry Airport.
In the same newspaper, Damian Thompson finds the booklet 'embarassing'. And I thought it was a commendable initiative. However, he gives some reasons I have not had time to check out.
Official booklet launched for Pope's
visit - and it's an embarrassment
June 15th, 2010
One of these days I promise to say something constructive about the planning for the papal visit, but I’m afraid the official booklet launched today is just an embarrassment. There’s a glancing reference on page 24 to the Holy Father beatifying John Henry Newman at Coventry Airport, but no more details are provided – just as well, perhaps, since that venue has been thrown into doubt by the incompetence of the visit organisers.
You will, however, find plenty of guff about how the Vatican is the world’s first carbon-neutral state, a photograph of American trade unionists on a march and a description of Newman as a “moderate” Catholic as opposed to “more extreme Catholics like Frederick Faber and W G Ward”.
Plus much PC boasting by the agencies of the Bishops’ Conference, a front cover that a Telegraph colleague describes as “like something out of a 1980s computer game” and lots and lots of typos. (Hardly surprising, given that the publishers are responsible for the Universe and Catholic Times newspapers.)
As for the press conference to launch the booklet, questions about the major Catholic events, which were unambiguously the responsibility of the Church in Britain, were batted away with references to the Vatican, the Foreign Office, the Government, Lord Patten and Health and Safety regulations.
“All very evasive,” says a journalist who was there. (Also evasive: Mgr Andrew Summersgill, who was otherwise occupied. Hmm.) The impression given was that the bishops are still hoping to book Coventry airport and spend no more than £7 million. But don’t bet on it, because the gulf between what’s really happening and what the Church chooses to tell the media, wide at the best of times, has never been greater.
Perhaps Thompson can feel a bit more charitable and try praying for the organizers so they end up doing the right things, after all these bad starts!
The release of the booklet and the so-called logo for the visit yesterday was accompanied by much hype about Brian Clarke, the artist responsible for the logo and described as 'the world's leading artist in stained glass'. That may be so, but the design can hardly be called striking, memorable, or even expressing the idea of the papal visit itself or the motto! And even the official site for the visit itself has not yet adapted the 'logo' or posted it anywhere on the site other than the cover picture of the booklet. (As you can see from the 'frieze' above, it does not reduce very well
The Cyprus organizers had a much more efficient, attractive and meaningful logo! And you could tell how much thought went into the Portugal logo, which was adapted to multiple versions. How is it that the US and the UK - which are supposed to have the world's most creative advertising minds - ended up with rather pedestrian logos for their respective papal visits?
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/06/2010 02:06]