Unfortunately, yesterday and on Tuesday I had no time to write anything about the second and third parts of The Scotsman's little series on the Papal visit by Stephen McGinty. So here they are now, but together.
The
second part on Tuesday focused on the "key issues of concern" for the Pope. It starts with a summary of various issues which the Pope has dealt with in some way, particularly those which caused headlines such as the Regensburg speech, the comment on condoms contributing to the AIDS crisis and the lifting of the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops. And of course the child sex abuse crisis was mentioned. However, the tone of the article is not too condemnatory, stating that Benedict is trying to prepare the Church for the Dark Age of Secularism and also noting a description of the Holy Father's reaction when listening to abuse cases as Prefect of CDF, saying "the physical disgust you could see on Ratzinger's face". It continues on with various people describing the Pope's gentleness and contrasting it with the media's initial description as "God's rottweiler" and "panzer cardinal". It also mentions his membership in the Hitler youth but also saying that his father was an anti-Nazi and that attendance at the HY was compulsory. Finally, the article continues with various anecdotes such as meeting Pele and not knowing who he was and then what the Pope may talk about. The media seem concerned a lot with whether a "controversial statement" (read "reiteration of Catholic doctrine") but John L Allen, his biographer and writer for the National Catholic Reporter, imagines that issues such as homosexuality and life issues may come up but it won't be his main point.
So all in all, for any Catholic who knows anything about the Pope, all of this is nothing new under the sun but I suppose it is quite useful for those who don't. Overall, the article was quite a fair one without too much bias. The only other thing on the page is to conform with The Scotsman's standards of parochiality, boasting of the fact that Monsignor Leo Cushley, a priest from the Diocese of Motherwell, is the head of the English Language desk at the Secretariat of State, meaning he is responsible "for the Church's relations with the English speaking world, a massive territory that includes North America, Australia, Britain and territories in the Far East".Oooh, well there you go!
The
third and final part of the series centred on the future of the Church, particularly in Scotland. It featured interviews with three Bishops - Bishop Devine of Motherwell, Bishop Tartaglia of Paisley and Cardinal O'Brien of St Andrew's and Edinburgh. Each one basically discussed the challenges ahead and the need to stick to the teachings of the Church even if comes to the point that preaching them is "illegal" because of hate speech laws. The Cardinal says that he would like Catholics to be able to fight their corner, even if small in number and he quotes Paul, calling Catholics to "preach in season and out of season". I liked this article because there was actually very little commentary and it was mainly a platform for the most senior representatives of the Church in Scotland to voice their views and hopes. Nevertheless, the article states that while at one point the Scottish College of Bishops was once one of the youngest in the world, it is now one of the oldest, meaning that these senior representatives are senior in more ways than one. This was also made evident at the Mass I went to yesterday for the Silver Jubilee of Cardinal O'Brien's episcopal ordination. It was a reasonably grand affair and I got to shake his hand at the end and even pose in a photograph (though I did protest a little). Never mind - at least he didn't find out my full name and realise I was the one whom he told off about a letter I sent about a year ago...
dum pendebat Filius. 
dum pendebat Filius. 
