HIDING THE POPE'S 'PERSON'
This is, of course, most evident in the coverage of the Wednesday general audiences - not only does the TV coverage end before the Pope goes down to meet individuals and groups, one on one. But even during the greetings, when he acknowledges visiting groups, the camera almost never shows him and his reactions close up.
Today, Fra Sistino filed a commentary specifically citing the TV and newspaper coverage of the Pope's visit to Assisi. (From his title, it is also evident he is no fan of Prime Minister Prodi!] Here is a translation:
The Pope in Assisi -
between the joy of the faithful
and an unlikely lunch companion
By Fra Sistino
How beautiful Assisi is! What tenderness in the faces of the nuns who had just met the Pope! What joy among the people who ran out to the streets to catch a glimpse of the Pope! What serenity on the Pope's face as he prayed in the Franciscan shrines!
Oh yes! Unfortunately, we hardly saw anything of that on TV! In Assisi, with the Pope for a whole day, how many wonderful things took place! The little city - symbol of a spirituality that has unfortunately been obscured by ideology - was in celebration last Sunday.
A celebration even by those people who had worked weeks so that everything would be perfect, beautiful, unforgettable, for this visit. Sisters of every order praying, friars running to and fro...Even Franciscans who may not have completely 'digested' the Pope's Motu Proprio asking them to work within the pastoral plan of the diocese.
Papa Ratzinger, yet again, was the Professor explaining Vatican-II to Franciscans today who may be too wrapped up in the affairs of the world.
At the same time, one wonders at his luncheon break with an 'indigestible' tablemate, Romano Prodi - the Prime Minister who, having given tacit support to the Gay Pride parade that freely insulted the Pope Saturday, came to Assisi to kiss the Pope's ring the next day - and to receive Communion. And what about 'eucharistic consistency' for Catholic politicians?
How wonderful it would have been if instead, the program had allowed the Pope more chances to mix about with the people! If they had distributed more tickets for the Mass! And if the TV channels and the newspapers the day after had shown us more of Ratzinger's Francis rather than Prodi in Assisi.
Instead, RAI showed only the Mass, and a ramshackle transmission in the afternoon on a tertiary channel that people never view.
[The more complete transmissions on Sky-TV, Telepace and SAT-2000 are available only to people who have satellite-TV service. Vatican TV (CTV) covers all the events - even if it cuts off what it considers 'superfluous' - but it has no direct broadcast facilities. It simply feeds its material to those who do, and it is up to the latter to decide what to use, when and how to use it.]
What a pity that those who work directly for the Pope don't seem to love him as much as we simpler workers do! What a pity that even many of my own brothers appear to ignore the 'perfect joy' of our Seraphic Father!
What a pity you could not see the joy among the sisters who were blessed by the Pope, or the joy of Benedict before all the children who greeted him with song on that lawn with the big PAX before he left the Basilica of St. Francis!
[At least, video online shows us much of the meeting with the youth of Umbria, thank God for little blessings.]
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Here is a translation of Fra Sistino's earlier commentary, posted in PETRUS on 6/14/07.
The error of hiding
the Pope's 'humanity'
By Fra Sistino
Why does TV hardly ever show the sweet tenderness of Benedict XVI, his splendid humanity - certainly completely different from that of John Paul II, but equally moving, if not more so?
The moment the Pope is handed a glass of water, immediately the official cameras switch to a boring panoramic shot. As if the thousands of persons present at the Pope's public appearances do not see what's happening and do not count.
And yet, these are beautiful moments which make beautiful images - also the photographs most requested - because they show us the man, not just the Successor of Peter. Images which, in fact, bring the latter nearer to us because they show us his personal nature.
We see these in the pictures that Arturo Mari took for years of Karol Wojtyla, and in the past two years, of Joseph Ratzinger. Mari is retiring. The rest of the
Osservatore Romano pool is splendid and will know, like so many other photo-reporters, how to capture these personal moments.
There's the official pontifical photo agency Felici, for instance, and a whole bunch of young photo-journalists who, fortunately, have provided us with snapshots of our smiling, joyous Pope.
Together with my colleagues covering any public event of the Pope, I see with what affection he approaches people. I see the tenderness with which his secretary hands him his glasses, or hands him a piece of candy to help clear his voice.
It is beautiful to see such moments. They don't take anything from the respect and reverence that priests like us, and the public, have for the Vicar of Christ. On the contrary!
The things that offend us are of a different nature. Like the intolerant attitudes of certain 'unskilled' Vatocan officials who behave as though they are omnipotent. Or the fear of declaring the faith by prelates who end up 'wasting' the great potential of the Church, and therefore of us all, the people of God. Prudence should never be confused with cowardice.
My colleagues and I are grateful, instead, to all those who - in every audience, in every public event for the Pope - do all they can to that it becomes beautiful, intimate, and real, for all concerned.
My colleagues and I are grateful to those who help make the Pope better known to his flock, and who make us appreciate the gifts of the theologian Joseph Ratzinger.
Whoever has had the gift of meeting him knows that he looks at you as he holds your hands in his - the way I imagine Jesus would have done.
And so we thank people like Arturo Mari who made us see John Paul in his hospital bed, in the mountains, being jocular with the crowds. As we thank him, for instance, for that picture of Benedict XVI crouched down to look at a simple creche beneath his Christmas tree at the Vatican. A photograph some Vatican authorities would consider un-Papal, but a stupendous one.
[In fairness, the Osservatore Romano did use that photograph on its front page.]
We love the Pope even more for being a person - but perhaps, not everyone understands that.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/06/2007 20:02]